Anders Johan Sjögren

Andreas Johan Sjögren (Russian: Андрей Михайлович Шёгрен / Andrei Mikhailovich Schogren, even Anders Johan Sjögren, born 15 Apriljul / April 26 1794greg in Sitikkala, Finland, .. .. † 6 Januarjul / January 18 1855greg in Saint Petersburg ) was finland a swedish- Russian linguist, historian, ethnographer and explorer.

Life and work

Sjogren was born in a Finland-Swedish family in the village Sitikkala in the east of the former landscape Nyland. 1807 came this area as part of the Grand Duchy of Finland to the Russian Empire and Russian Sjögren was subordinate. In 1813 he graduated from high school in Porvoo ( Porvoo ), then studied until 1819 at the Academy in Åbo (Turku ).

Under the impact of the early works of the Danish philologist Rasmus Christian Rask is Sjögren deal first with the history of the Russian North, especially with the ethnography and the languages ​​of the Finno- Ugric peoples of this region, the Komi.

His 1823 published treatise On the Finnish language and literature attracted the attention of former statesman and patron of science Nikolai Rumyantsev, who set Sjögren as a private librarian, prompting the promotion of his travels with state funds.

1835 Sjögren traveled to the Caucasus to study the Georgian and Ossetian language there. The most important result was a 1844 published Ossetic grammar with short Ossetian- Russian and Russian- ossetischem dictionary, which also represented the first in-depth study of this language. Sjogren's is regarded as the author of the modern Ossetian alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet, which is used with minor changes today.

Since 1827 Sjögren was a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, since 1831 whose extraordinary member of " Russian History and Antiquities " and from 1844 a full member of the "Department of Philology and Ethnography of the Finnish and Caucasian peoples of Russia ". In 1845 he became director of the Ethnographic Museum of the Academy.

A planned research trip to Siberia had to cancel due to his health condition Sjogren; However, he suggested in his place the younger Matthias Alexander Castrén, who is considered the founder of linguistics of the Uralic languages ​​today. However, Sjögren undertook further shorter trips, so in 1846 and 1852 to the Livs in Livonia and Courland.

Work (selection)

Sjögren published many of his published writings 1823-1854 in German, some also in Russian.

• Anteckningar om församlingarne i Kemi - Lappmark (1828 )
• The Sürjänen, a historical- statistical- philological study ( 1829)
• About the Finnish population of St. Peter Burgi 's provinces and on the origin of the name Ingermann Country ( 1833)
• Ossetian language teaching (1841 )
• Grammar of the Ossetian language ( 1844)
• Ossetian studies (1848 )
• For ethnography of Livonia (1849 )
• Collected Writings ( posthumously in 1861, edited by Ferdinand Wiedemann, reprint 1969): Historical- ethnographic treatises on the Finnish- Russian north
• Livonian grammar along with speech samples
• Liv - German and German - Liv dictionary