Georg Valentin von Munthe af Morgenstierne (2 January 1892 – 3 March 1978) was a Norwegian professor of
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...
with the
University of Oslo (UiO). He specialized in
Indo-Iranian languages
The Indo-Iranian languages (also Indo-Iranic languages or Aryan languages) constitute the largest and southeasternmost extant branch of the Indo-European language family (with over 400 languages), predominantly spoken in the geographical subr ...
.
Studies
During the years 1923 to 1971, Morgenstierne carried out fieldwork in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Iran. In 1924, he undertook the first of his two major linguistic expeditions. He arrived in
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...
with a personal letter of introduction to the
King of Afghanistan, from the
King of Norway
The Norwegian monarch is the head of state of Norway, which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. The Norwegian monarchy can trace its line back to the reign of Harald Fairhair and the previous petty kingd ...
. Together with studying the languages, Morgenstierne collected remarkable scientific materials from the culture of the regional people, like images, movies from pre-
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
ic
ceremonial dances and sound recordings from nearly extinct languages.
The materials are available in his database at the
National Library of Norway.
Writings
His publications listed in
BIBSYS
* Report on a Linguistic Mission to Afghanistan.
Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning, Serie C I-2. Oslo.
* Report on a Linguistic Mission to North-Western India by Georg Morgenstierne
Further reading
*
Nils Johan Ringdal
Nils Johan Ringdal (6 March 1952 – 11 September 2008) was a Norwegian author and historian, known mostly for his works on Norwegian occupation history and Norwegian cultural history, and for his controversial book "''Nationaltheaterets Histori ...
: ''Georg Valentin von Munthe af Morgenstiernes forunderlige liv og reiser'' Aschehoug 2008
* Ulf Andenæs: ''En norsk legende i Orienten''. Bokanmeldelse i
Aftenposten Kultur 22 May 2008 side 10
References
External links
National Library of Norwayin the National Library of Norway site
Linguists from Norway
1892 births
1978 deaths
University of Oslo faculty
Indo-Europeanists
Linguists of Indo-European languages
Indologists
Iranologists
Linguists of Iranian languages
Linguists of Indo-Aryan languages
20th-century linguists
Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy
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