Hans Christian Lyngbye

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Hans Christian Lyngbye (born June 29, 1782 in Blenstrup near Aalborg / Denmark ; † May 18, 1837 ) was a Danish pastor and botanist who specialized in algae . In addition, he was a friend of the Faroe Islands who published the first book in the Faroese language . Its official botanical author abbreviation is “ Lyngb. "

Life

Hans Christian is the son of the teacher Jens Michelsen Lyngbye. From 1799 he attended the Latin school in Aalborg after graduating from high school in 1802, he made the Philologicum and the Philosophicum in 1803. He first worked as a tutor for a priest on Vendsyssel ( Thy ). He studied botany and theology, which he successfully completed in 1812. Then Lyngbye was tutor to the botanist Niels Hofman Bang (1776–1855) on Funen , who aroused his interest in algae. Together they traveled to Norway in 1816 to collect algae. In the same year the University of Copenhagen announced a competition where all the algae found in Denmark so far should be systematized. Lyngbye won first prize and his work was suggested for publication.

First, however, an algological trip to the Faroe Islands was to take him in 1817, so that his Hydrophytologia Danica from 1819 considered all algae on the coasts of Denmark, Norway and the Faroe Islands. Among other things, this work described 7 new genera and 50 new species and was the standard work in Denmark for many decades.

In 1819 Lyngbye became parish priest for Gjesing and Nørager (between Randers and Grenå ) and in 1822 married the pastor's daughter Henrietta Augusta Tileman. However, his financial situation worsened, so that he was only able to continue his botanical research with difficulty. That only changed in 1827 when he became parish priest for Søborg and Gilleleje on the north coast of Zealand , where he found an ideal field of activity near the sea.

When the University of Copenhagen celebrated the 300th anniversary of the Reformation in Denmark in 1836 , it offered a doctorate to a number of deserving men without having to defend themselves verbally. Lyngbye also received such an invitation to write a dissertation, and so the zoological treatise Rariora Codana was born . The messenger who was supposed to bring her to Copenhagen, however, forgot her in his coat, and when she reappeared the appointment had passed. But he was assured that he would still get the doctorate, which happened in the fall of that year. The following year he died from exhaustion after the exertions of the months before.

The botanical part of his treatise was published in 1879. A genus of blue-green algae, Lyngbya , is named after him.

Lyngbye and the Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands trip of 1817 proved to be extremely inspiring in many ways. He wrote a treatise on pilot whales and pilot whale fishing in the Faroe Islands , for which he received a silver medal from the Danish Scientific Society in 1818.

Most important, however, was Lyngbye's preoccupation with the Faroese ballads . Although he had no philological expertise in Old Norse , he was nevertheless aware of the importance of these unique folk tunes. They were presented to him on the rainy days during his stay, and his interest went so far that he acquired the necessary basic knowledge of the Faroese language from Jens Christian Svabo (1746–1824) . What Svabo was denied himself, namely the publication of his ballad collection during his lifetime, now took shape: The provost Peter Mathiesen Hentze (1753–1843) and the pastor Johan Henrik Schrøter (1771–1851) actively supported Lyngbye in the collection of these linguistic monuments.

The Danish Bishop Peter Erasmus Müller (1776–1834) recognized the value of these songs and asked Lyngbye to publish them in a book. Müller provided financial support from the Danish king. The result was the first book in the Faroese language: Færøske Kvæder om Sigurd Fofnersbane og hans vont from 1822, where, according to Schrøter's orthography a. a. the Sigurdlieder were documented. Müller wrote the foreword in Danish, while the metric Danish translation of the originals is from Lyngbye. 1822 is considered the "year zero" of Faroese literature . From 1822 to the end of 2002 exactly 4,306 books were published in Faroese.

Lyngbye is considered immortal in the Faroe Islands, not least because of this pioneering act.

Works

  • 1819 - Hydrophytologia Danica (about the Danish, Norwegian and Faroese algae with 70 plates)
  • 1822 - Færøiske Qvæder om Sigurd Fofnersbane og hans Æt . with appendix / list and oversate by Hans Christian Lyngbye; med en Indledning af PE Müller. Randers, 1822. [2 volumes], xxiii, 592 pages (reprinted unchanged, Tórshavn 1980) Textarchiv - Internet Archive

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Lyngbye, Hans Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish pastor and botanist
DATE OF BIRTH June 29, 1782
PLACE OF BIRTH Blenstrup near Aalborg , Denmark
DATE OF DEATH May 18, 1837