Carl Christian Rafn

Life

Carl Christian is the son of dairy lessor Christian Rafn and Christiane, nee Kiølbye. After visiting the Kathedralskole in Odense in 1810 he went to the University of Copenhagen in 1814, where he completed his state examination in law after only one and a half years in 1816. He was an assistant to the military prosecutor MH Borneman employed. A year later he became a lieutenant in the regiment of dragoons Funen.

But his real hobby was the Icelandic language, literature and philosophy. So he was already in 1818 a co-founder of the National Library of Iceland, by sending 22 books to Reykjavík. He promoted the establishment of the analog state libraries of the Faroe Islands (1827 ) in Tórshavn and Greenland ( Nunatta Atuagaateqarfia 1829) in Godthåb (Nuuk ).

Already in 1820 Rafn was Latin and grammar teacher in the country Cadet Academy ( Landkadetakademiet ) in Copenhagen. Obviously, this task filled it but not completely, so it alongside the Arnamagnäanische Collection ( Arnamagnæanske Samling ) of the Old Icelandic manuscripts arranged and began to translate texts from it. It soon became clear to him that this extensive source material can never be handled by one man 's lifetime, and so he decided to found a scientific society, the systematic publication of Old Norse texts and collections devoted to the appropriate language monuments and archaeological objects around the world. That was the birth of the Nordic Altschriftgesellschaft ( Nordiske Oldskrift - Selskab ), which was formally established on January 28, 1825, the 57th birthday of King Frederik VI.

Rafn from the beginning was secretary of that company, which he ran together with Rasmus Rask and Joseph Abrahamson. Financially, it could be based on an unexpected number of subscribers to their publications in Iceland. 1826 was Rafn his position as a teacher and devoted all his time to society. In the same year he became a professor. 1828, the Company received the title of Royal. The company grew rapidly to members around the world and also assets. Rafn got all correspondence was treasurer, sought sponsors and edited the publications of the Society, which decreed his death a fortune of 170,000 crowns.

1830 Rafn was a member of the Royal Commission for the storage of antiquities. The Altschriftgesellschaft took on the task to publish their periodicals, and so did her share of Danish archeology that time. The National Museum in Copenhagen owes its historical and archaeological archive along with the library and the "American cabinet", where archaeological and ethnographic objects were collected.

Great attention in America raised his 1837 book given out Antiqvitates Americanæ, which he first outlined the discovery of America by Leif Eriksson to the world. The other works (see bibliography) contributed significantly to the fact that the Old Norse sources in the world were known.

However, this international action was a two way street. By Rafns extensive correspondence with scholars around the world and his extensive research trips he gave the Danish people have been largely unknown foreign literature, which now found its way into the libraries.

Also for the Faroese language Rafn has inserted. He supported V.U. Hammershaimb instrumental in the publication of its standard orthography. Here he worked with the Danish governor of the Faroe Islands, Christian Pløyen, the Icelandic philologist Jón Sigurðsson and his Danish colleague Niels Matthias Petersen, the latter two as the real fathers of Hammershaimb etymologisierender orthography apply.

Carl Christian Rafn in 1859 was appointed royal functionary. Foreign universities awarded him an honorary doctorate. Rafn died in 1864 at the age of 69 years. He is buried in Copenhagen on the Assistants Cemetery. His grave stone is on the back of a rune stone, in memory of his great achievements for the Norse philology.

Writings

Selection and often together with other authors

Magazines

Article

• " The Söndervissing Stone " In: Association for Mecklenburg History and Archaeology: Year Books of the Association for Mecklenburg History and Archaeology. - Vol 24 (1859 ), pp. 6-15 (on the Internet )

Secondary literature

• Bendict Grøndal: Breve fra og til Carl Christian Rafn, 1869
• Finnbogi Gudmundson: Sveinbjörn Egilsson og Carl Christian Rafn. Roskilde University, 1969
• J. J. Worsaae: " Carl Christian Rafn og C. J. Thomsen " In Aarbøger for nordisk Oldkyndighed, 1866