Prods Oktor Skjærvø (sometimes written P.O. Skjaervo in English) is Emeritus Professor of

Iranian Studies Iranian studies ( '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It is a part of the wider field ...

in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, where he succeeded Richard Frye as

Aga Khan Aga Khan (; ; also transliterated as ''Aqa Khan'' and ''Agha Khan'') is a title held by the Imamate in Nizari doctrine, Imām of the Nizari Isma'ilism, Nizari Isma'ilism, Ismāʿīli Shia Islam, Shias. The current holder of the title is the ...

Professor of Iranian Studies. Born in

Steinkjer or is a municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Steinkjer (town), town of Steinkjer which is located on the inne ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, Skjærvø is a hyperpolyglot, familiar with historical and living languages including

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

, Norwegian, English, French,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, Larestani, Kumzari, Bashkardi,

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

, Yidgha, Yaghnobi, Munji, Old Khotanese,

Avestan Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...

Old Persian Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of the Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as (I ...

, Pahlavi, Manichean Middle Persian, Parthian, Sogdian, Khotanese,

New Persian New Persian (), also known as Modern Persian () is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian (8th ...

Ossetic Ossetian ( , , ), commonly referred to as Ossetic and rarely as Ossete, is an Eastern Iranian language that is spoken predominantly in Ossetia, a region situated on both sides of the Russian-Georgian border in the Greater Caucasus region. ...

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

, Tokharian,

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...

, and

Classical Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest ...

Education

In 1963 Skjærvø enrolled at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

where he studied French, Latin, and Sanskrit, with a semester in 1965 at the Sorbonne in Paris. He earned his B.A. () in 1970. In 1974 he completed his M.A. with the thesis, (''Investigations into the verbal systems of Old Persian and Western Middle Iranian''), on which he subsequently based his “Remarks on the Old Persian Verbal System.” He then completed his Ph.D. in 1981 from the University of Oslo with the dissertation, ''The Paikuli Inscription, Restoration and Interpretation. Pt.1: Restored Text and Translation (109 pp.). Pt2: Introduction and Commentary''. Avesta-ligatury

Chairs and Committees

Skjærvø served in several academic positions at Harvard including: * Chair, Committee for Inner Asian and Altaic Studies, 1993–2000 * Chair, Department of Sanskrit, 1995–1996 * Chair, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilisations, 2002–2006 and 2009 He has also been invited as: * Guest lecturer, Eötvös Loránd Tudomány University, Budapest, 1997 * Guest lecturer, Université de la Sorbonne, Paris * Guest lecturer, Università di Studi di Roma, La Sapienza * Visiting professor, Collège de France, Paris, May–June 2000 Skjærvø is also a Consulting Editor for ''

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English-language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encyc ...

''.Encyclopædia Iranica Consulting Editors
Retrieved 2020-29-06.

Selected books

Skjærvø has been published widely in several languages:

English

* * * * * *

Norwegian

* *

References

External links

Faculty member page
Harvard University
Profile
on the Consulting Editors page of the ''

''
Official profile on Academia.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Complete list of publications

Prods Oktor Skjærvø’s textbooks
hosted online at Harvard University, on: *
Old Avestan
*
Young Avestan
*
Old Persian
*
Manichaean Sogdian
*
Introduction to Zoroastrianism
*
Introductions to Manicheism
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skjærvø, Prods Oktor 1944 births Living people American people of Norwegian descent Iranologists Harvard University faculty Linguists of Persian People from Steinkjer Zoroastrian studies scholars University of Copenhagen alumni University of Oslo alumni Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni