Tuomo Pekkanen

Tuomo Antero Pekkanen , Latin Thomas Pekkanen , (born July 16, 1934 in Saari (now Parikkala ), Finland ) is a Finnish Latinist and author of neo-Latin literature .

Tuomo Pekkanen received his doctorate from the University of Helsinki in 1968 with the thesis " The Ethnic Origin of the Δουλοσπόροι " . From 1969 to 1972 he was director of the Institutum Romanum Finlandiae in Rome and during this time he researched the oldest evidence of the Finnish tribes. The result of this research was the “ Latin sources on North-eastern Eurasia ” written with Pentti Aalto . Pekkanen is a professor emeritus at Jyväskylä University , where he taught Latin studies. In addition to an extensive work mainly in Latin, he translated the national epic of the Finns, the Kalevala with its 22,795 verses, into Latin on behalf of the Finnish state . With this work he placed himself completely in the tradition of the great authors of humanistic Latin .

To promote the Latin language and to spread its knowledge, Pekkanen also goes unusual ways. He wrote the lyrics for a Finnish jazz band called " Reine Rimon Eiusque Papae Fervidissimi " ("Reine Rimon and Her Hot Papas") - free arrangements of poems by Horace and Catullus . Pekkanen suggested a news program in Latin, which is broadcast as Nuntii Latini ("Latin News") since September 1, 1989 by the Finnish radio station Yleisradio and edited by Pekkanen and Reijo Pitkäranta. From 1992 to 1999, the contributions for one year were also presented in printed form. In 2006 he edited a neo-Latin dictionary Finnish-Latin-Finnish with Reijo Pitkäranta.

Pekkanen has been a member of the Academia Latinitati Fovendae since 1968 and is one of the first members appointed by Pietro Romanelli . In 1996 he held the ninth congress at Jyväskylä University, which was reported in Latin on Finnish television. Due to the extremely successful implementation of the congress and the associated public attention, Pekkanen initially became vice-president of the academy in 1998, as the academy's statutes only allowed Italians for the position. After a change in the statutes, Pekkanen became its president in 2010.

Fonts (selection)

• The Ethnic Origin of the Δουλοσπόροι . Akateeminen Kirjakauppa, Helsinki 1968.
• With Pentti Aalto: Latin sources on North-eastern Eurasia. Two volumes. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1975/1980.
• Ars grammatica: Latinan kielioppi. Gaudeamus, Helsinki 1981.
• Kalevala latina: Carmen epicum nationis Finnorum. Societas Kalevalensis, Helsinki 1986.
• With Reijo Pitkäranta: Nuntii Latini. Five volumes. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki 1992–1999.
• Carmina viatoris. Leuven University Press, Leuven 2005.
• With Reijo Pitkäranta: Nykylatinan sanakirja: suomi-latina-suomi (= Lexicon hodiernae latinitatis: finno-latino-finnicum). Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki 2006.

Web links

• Herald Tribune ( Memento of August 16, 2000 in the Internet Archive ) on Tuomo Pekkanen.
• History of the Academia Latinitati Fovendae (Latin).
• List of directors of the Institutum Romanum Finlandiae.