Konráð Gíslason

Konrad Gíslason (* July 3, 1808 at Skagafjordur, Iceland; † 4 January 1891 in Copenhagen, Denmark ) was an Icelandic- Danish linguist.

Life and work

Konrad Gíslason, a particularly thorough knowledge of Old Norse literature, attended from 1826 to 1831 the high school to Bessastaðir and then entered the University of Copenhagen, to devote himself to the law. With greater zeal than the latter but he drove Germanistic studies that led him in time to extensive linguistic studies (notably the Indo-European languages).

Already in 1834 he was with three other young Icelanders, the Fjölnismännern ( Fjölnismenn ), engaged in the said nursing movement of the Icelandic language purism and founded with them the journal Fjölnir, which appeared from 1835 to 1839 and from 1844 to 1847 in Copenhagen as annual expenditure.

The first fruits of his philological studies were one founded on the oldest manuscripts critical elementary theory of Old Icelandic ( To frumparta Islenzkrar Tungu i fornöld, 1846) and a Danish- Icelandic Dictionary ( 1851), the only one that existed until then.

An ( unfinished ) Old Norse form of teaching followed after 1858. In addition, Gíslason has issues Icelandic writings ( Gisla saga, 1849; Njala, 1875-79, 2 vols ), rendered outstanding comments Skaldenpoesie and general language treatises. He was professor of Old Norse languages ​​at the University of Copenhagen, and died on 4 January 1891 in Copenhagen.

Konrad Gíslason was a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences.