Oluf Rygh

Oluf Rygh

Oluf Rygh (born September 5, 1833 in Verdal , † August 19, 1899 in Ulefoss ) was a Norwegian historian, prehistorian and place-name researcher. He is considered the founder of the Norwegian place name research.

Youth and education

His parents were the farmer, feudal man and deputy Peder Strand Rygh (1800–1868) and his wife Ingeborg Marie Bentsen (1809–1878). He remained unmarried.

Rygh was the oldest of six children. One of his siblings was Evald Rygh . He left the cathedral school in Trondheim in 1850 and then studied philology at the University of Christiania, where he passed the exam with the best possible grade ("med innstilling") in 1856. At the same time he was a teacher at a school in Christiania and in 1858 received a scholarship from Rudolf Keyser in history. For a time he was a member of Det lærde Holland .

University career

From 1859 to 1861 he was a lecturer in history. Since the fall of 1861, Rygh was practically the only history teacher at the university, with Rudolf Keyser saying goodbye to his students in the middle of the semester. In 1860 he also became an assistant at the antiquities collection, which he took over from Keyser in 1862. When Peter Andreas Munch died, he got his job in 1863. He held this position until 1875, when, at his request, the chair was transformed into a chair for archeology. In 1871 he finished the translation of Snorri's royal sagas that Munch had started.

Political attitude

In contrast to his father, who was close to the peasant leader Ole Gabriel Ueland , he was rather conservative, but not particularly politically committed. He contented himself with standing up from 1878 to 1891 in Christiania as an elector for the Høyre party . His brother Karl was in charge of the antiquities collection of " Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab " in Trondheim .

Scientific activity

Together with the Reich archivist Michael Birkeland , Ludvig Ludvigsen Daae and Sophus Bugge , he founded “Den Norske Historiske Forening”, was a member of the board from 1869 and chairman from 1879 to 1899. He played a larger role in archeology at a time when this subject was taking its form in Scandinavia. He cataloged the ancient finds of Norway and contributed to the periodization of the prehistory of Norway through his treatise "Den ældre Jernalder i Norge" (1869) (The older Iron Age in Norway) and "Den yngre Jernalder i Norge" (The younger Iron Age in Norway) (1877) at.

Rygh led several excavations, the most famous of which is the salvage of the Tuneschiff in 1867. He was a pioneer in the application of scientific methods in this area, which he presented in the treatise Norske Broncelegeringer fra Jernalderen (Norwegian Iron Age Bronze Alloys ) (1873). In 1882 he coined the term “bygdeborger” (rural settlement) in his treatise “Gamle Bygdeborge i Norge” (old rural settlements in Norway). The term became a central term in Norwegian archeology. His most important work, however, was Norske Oldsager (Norwegian Antiquities, 1885), which contained a complete catalog of Norwegian antiquities.

Another field of his activity was place name research. In 1878, together with Johan Fritzner and Sophus Bugge, he revised the spelling of Norwegian field names. This became the basis of the work Norske Gaardnavne (Norwegian field names ), the first two volumes of which came out in 1897 and 1898. The work was then continued by Karl Rygh, Magnus Olsen, Albert Kjær and Just Qvigstad. The complete work in 21 volumes was not completed until 1936. It was a complete directory of all field names Fylke by Fylke with explanations and became a model for similar undertakings, for example in Great Britain. Rygh wanted to research the oldest name forms and to add the current local name in the pronunciation of his time and therefore visited the areas to determine them on site.

Rygh was a member of several academies, u. a. of the Kungliga Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Academies (since 1880).

Rygh's meaning

Rygh's endeavor was to link Norwegian history with the international branches of science. He undertook this for archeology and place name research. He thought this was important in connection with the formation of a Norwegian national identity and culture at the end of the 19th century. So it became an important engine in building a Norwegian nation under the sign of national romanticism .

Works

• Skibs found from Tune. Reprint from Den Norske Rigstidende. No. 178, 1867.
• Om den ældre jernalder i Norge. In: Aarbøger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie. 1869, pp. 149-184.
• Norske Broncelegeringer from Jernalderen. In: Scientific Society Kristiania. Negotiations 1873, pp. 471-480.
• Om den yngre Jernalder i Norge. In: Aarbøger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie . 1877, pp. 101-194.
• Gamle Bygdeborge i Norge. In: Aarsberetning / Foreningen til norske Fortidsminnesmerkers Bevaring. 1883, pp. 30-80.
• Norske Oldsager. Cammermeyer, Christiania 1885 ( archive.org ).
• Norske Stedsnavne paa lo (lá, sló eller lignende) . In: Axel Kock, et al. (Ed.): Arkiv för nordisk filologi (ANF) . New episode, volume 3 (= band 7 of the complete edition). CWK Gleerups förlag, Lund 1891, p. 244-256 (multilingual, runeberg.org ).
• Norske Fjordnavne. In: Sproglig-historiske Studier tilegnede Professor CR Unger. 1896, pp. 30-86.
• Norske Gaardnavne. Oplysninger samlede til Brug ved Matrikelens Revision. Volume 1: Smaalenes Office. 1897. Volume 2: Akershus Office. 1898.

literature

• Åsmund Svendsen: Oluf Rygh. In: Norsk biografisk leksikon. ( snl.no. Retrieved October 18, 2009).
• Fredrik Christian Wildhagen Ording: Henrik Ibsens vennekreds Det lærde Holland. Et chapter av norsk cultural life. Oslo 1927.

Remarks

The article is based on the Norsk biografisk leksikon . Any other information is shown separately.

1. ↑ Ording: Henrik Ibsen vennekreds Det lærde Holland. ... p. 103.
2. ↑ Ording: Henrik Ibsen vennekreds Det lærde Holland. ... p. 104.