Knut Fredrik Söderwall (1 January 1842 – 30 May 1924) was a Swedish

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

, professor at

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

, and member of the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy (), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body t ...

Biography

Söderwall was born 1842 in Drängsered parish,

Halland County Halland County (, ) is a county ('' län'') on the western coast of Sweden. It corresponds roughly to the cultural and historical province of Halland. The capital is Halmstad. Prince Julian, the son of Prince Carl Philip, is Duke of Halland. ...

. He was the son of the parish priest Per Söderwall and Margareta Johanna von Wachenfeldt. He graduated from the Lund Cathedral School in 1858, and entered Lund University. Söderwall received a Bachelor of Arts in 1863 and a PhD in 1865. He was appointed

Docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

1865 and

Adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

in 1872. After six years as a stand-in (''extraordinarie professor'') for

Theodor Wisén Theodor Wisén (31 March 1835 – 15 February 1892) was a Swedish philologist of Scandinavian languages. Biography Wisén was born in the parish of Vissefjärda in Kalmar County. He studied the classics, especially Greek, before turning to Scand ...

he became professor in Nordic languages in 1892. The same year he was also elected to Seat No. 5 of the Swedish Academy, also there as successor to Wisén. Söderwall retired as professor in 1907. He died in Lund 30 May 1924.

Work

Söderwall's work mainly concerns

Old Swedish Old Swedish ( Modern Swedish: ) is the name for two distinct stages of the Swedish language that were spoken in the Middle Ages: Early Old Swedish (), spoken from about 1225 until about 1375, and Late Old Swedish (), spoken from about 1375 unti ...

. Between 1884 and 1918 he published a dictionary on Old Swedish, ''Ordbok öfver svenska medeltidsspråket'', on behalf of Svenska fornskriftsällskapet. Following the success in the early work on this dictionary he was recruited by the Swedish Academy to work on ''

Svenska Akademiens Ordbok A complete set of ''Svenska Akademiens ordbok'', as of late 2014. The majority of the volumes remain unbound in this set. ''Svenska Akademiens ordbok'' (), abbreviated SAOB, is a historical dictionary of the Swedish language published by the Swe ...

'' (SAOB). The work on this dictionary had stalled in the 18th century, but was restarted in the 1880s. Söderwall worked on SAOB 1884–1912. Between 1892 and 1912 he was the main editor.

Memberships in academies and learned societies

*1884 Royal Nordic Society of Antiquaries *1892 Swedish Academy *1894

Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters ({{Langx, da, Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab or ''Videnskabernes Selskab'') is a Danish academy of science. The Royal Danish Academy was established on 13 November 1742, and was create ...

(No. 353) *1895

Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities () is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledge within their subject. The general goal of th ...

*1900

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

(No. 694) *1901

Royal Society of Sciences and Letters in Gothenburg The Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Gothenburg (, abbreviated KVVS and often known simply as ''Samhället'') is a Swedish Royal Academy. Its predecessor was founded in Gothenburg in 1773 and the academy took its present name in 1778. The sam ...

*1909

Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities also called simply the Royal Academy of Letters or Vitterhetsakademien abbreviated KVHAA ( or or ) is the Sweden, Swedish Swedish Royal Academies, royal academy for the Humanities. Its ...

(No. 104)

Awards

*1868 ''Svenska Akademiens andra pris'' from the Swedish Academy *1886 ''Karl Johan prize'' from the Swedish Academy *1888 ''Letterstedt prize'' from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Bibliography

* 1865 ''Några anmärkningar öfver de svenska kasusformerna under medeltiden'' * 1865 ''Om verbets rektion i fornsvenskan'' * 1967 ''Om främmande ords behandling i fornsvenskan'' * 1870 ''Hufvudepokerna af svenska språkets utbildning'' * 1880 ''Några svenska medeltidsord förklarade'' * 1884-1918 ''Ordbok öfver svenska medeltidsspråket''

References

External links

Short biography
in the member register of the Swedish Academy (in Swedish)

on

Project Runeberg Project Runeberg () is a digital cultural archive initiative that publishes free electronic versions of books significant to the culture and history of the Nordic countries. Patterned after Project Gutenberg, it was founded by Lars Aronsson and ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soderwall, Knut Fredrik 1842 births 1924 deaths Members of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters Members of the Royal Society of Sciences and Letters in Gothenburg Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members of the Swedish Academy Swedish philologists Swedish lexicographers Linguists from Sweden Lund University alumni Academic staff of Lund University People from Hylte Municipality