Erik Alfred Torbjörn "Björn" Collinder (22 July 1894 – 20 May 1983) was a Swedish
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
who was Professor of
Finno-Ugric languages
Finno-Ugric () is a traditional linguistic grouping of all languages in the Uralic language family except for the Samoyedic languages. Its once commonly accepted status as a subfamily of Uralic is based on criteria formulated in the 19th centur ...
at
Uppsala University
Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
Initially fou ...
.
Biography
Collinder was born in
Sundsvall
Sundsvall () is a city and the seat of Sundsvall Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It has a population of 58,807 as of 2020; more than 95,000 live in the municipal area. It is Sweden's 21st largest city by population. Old town i ...
, Sweden on 22 July 1894. After gaining a
licentiate in
Nordic philology at
Uppsala University
Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
Initially fou ...
, Colinder developed a strong interest in
Finno-Ugric languages
Finno-Ugric () is a traditional linguistic grouping of all languages in the Uralic language family except for the Samoyedic languages. Its once commonly accepted status as a subfamily of Uralic is based on criteria formulated in the 19th centur ...
. Since 1929, Collinder was a
docent in Finno-Ugric languages at Uppsala University. He subsequently succeeded his mentor
K.B. Wiklund as Professor of Finno-Ugric Languages at Uppsala University. Collinder retired as
Professor Emeritus
''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus".
...
in 1961, and was succeeded by his protégé
Bo Wickman.
Collinder specialized in the
Germanic loanwords in
Finnic and
Sami
Acronyms
* SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft
* Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company
* South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ne ...
. He was a highly productive author of scholarly literature, and also conducted fieldwork among the
Sámi people
The Sámi ( ; also spelled Sami or Saami) are the traditionally Sámi languages, Sámi-speaking indigenous people inhabiting the region of Sápmi, which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Kola Peninsula ...
. He is also noted as the translator of a number of works, including
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...
, the
Poetic Edda
The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems in alliterative verse. It is distinct from the closely related ''Prose Edda'', although both works are seminal to the study of Old Norse ...
, the
Kalevala, and many of the works of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
. Under the initials Bj. C., he was the author of a large number of entries in ''
Svensk uppslagsbok''. His
magnum opus, ''Comparative Grammar of the Uralic Languages'', has remained the standard work on
Uralic languages
The Uralic languages ( ), sometimes called the Uralian languages ( ), are spoken predominantly in Europe and North Asia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian. Other languages with speakers ab ...
up to the present day.
Collinder was a member of a large number of scholarly organizations. This includes Member of the
Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy (1936), the
Royal Society of the Humanities at Uppsala (1936), the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1937), the
Finnish Academy of Science and Letters (1941), the
Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities (1943), the
Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway.
History
The Royal Frederick University in Christiania was establis ...
(1945), the
Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala (1951), the
Finno-Ugrian Society, the
Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters (1951), and a Corresponding Member of the
Finnish Literature Society (1941) and the
Austrian Academy of Sciences (1966).
Collinder died in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, Austria on 20 May 1983.
Personal life
Collinder was the husband of Swedish soprano
Britta Norrby-Collinder, and the brother of the famous astronomer
Per Collinder.
Selected works
* 1929. ''Über den finnisch-lappischen Quantitätswechsel I.'' Uppsala.
* 1934. ''Indo-uralisches Sprachgut.'' Uppsala.
* 1938. ''Lautlehre des waldlappischen dialektes von Gällivare.'' Helsinki: Suomalais-ugrilainen Seura. (= ''Mémoires de la Société finno-ougrienne'' 74.)
* 1939. ''Reichstürkische Lautstudien.'' Uppsala.
* 1940. ''Jukagirisch und Uralisch.'' Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell.
* 1943. ''Lappisches Wörterverzeichnis aus Härjedalen.'' Uppsala.
* 1947. ''La parenté linguistique et le calcul des probabilités.'' Uppsala.
* 1949. ''The Lapps.'' New York: Princeton University Press for the American Scandinavian Foundation.
* 1949. ''The Lappish Dialect of Jukkasjärvi: A Morphological Survey.'' Uppsala: Almquist & Wiksell.
* 1954. ''Scandinavica et fenno-ugrica.'' Almqvist & Wiksell.
* 1955. ''Fenno-Ugric Vocabulary: An Etymological Dictionary of the Uralic Languages.'' (Collective work.) Stockholm: Almqvist & Viksell. (Second, revised edition: Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag, 1977.)
* 1957. ''Survey of the Uralic Languages.'' (Collective work.) Stockholm: Almqvist & Viksell.
* 1957. ''Den Poetiska Eddan.'' Örebro: Forum.
* 1960. ''Comparative Grammar of the Uralic Languages.'' Stockholm: Almqvist & Viksell.
* 1964. ''Ordbok till Sveriges lapska ortnamn.'' Uppsala.
* 1964. ''The Kalevala and Its Background.'' Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.
* 1964. ''Sprachverwandschaft und Wahrscheinlichkeit. Ausgewählte Schriften neu veröffentlicht zum 70. Geburtstag des Verfassers 22. Juli 1964 zusammen mit einer Bibliographie der Werke von Björn Collinder 1921-1964.'' Uppsala.
* 1965. ''An Introduction to the Uralic Languages.'' Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press
* 1965. ''Hat das Uralische Verwandte ? Eine sprachvergleichende Untersuchung.'' Uppsala
* 1968. ''Kritische Bemerkungen zum saussure'schen Cours de linguistique générale.'' Uppsala.
* 1970. ''Noam Chomsky und die generative Grammatik. Eine kritische Betrachtung.'' Uppsala.
* 1977. ''Svensk ordnyckel med förkortningslexikon.'' Brunna: Förlagshuset Fyris AB.
* 1978. ''Sprache und Sprachen. Einführung in die Sprachwissenschaft.'' Hamburg: Buske.
* 1983. ''Stora ordboken. Svensk ordnyckel.'' Liber.
See also
*
Stig Wikander
*
Geo Widengren
*
Henrik Samuel Nyberg
Sources
*
External links
*
Photographs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collinder, Bjorn
1894 births
1983 deaths
Finno-Ugrists
Linguists of Uralic–Yukaghir languages
Linguists of Yukaghir languages
Members of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
Members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
Members of the Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy
Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala
Historical linguists
People from Sundsvall
Scandinavian studies scholars
Translators of the Poetic Edda
Uppsala University alumni
Academic staff of Uppsala University
20th-century Swedish linguists