Þorleifur Guðmundsson Repp (also spelled Thorleifur Repp; 6 July 1794 in Reykjadalur,

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

– 4 December 1857 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

) was an Icelandic scholar and philologist. He studied at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

, but in 1826 failed his defense. He later worked variously as a writer, journalist, translator, librarian, and language teacher. In 1825, he worked as a sub-librarian at the

Advocates Library The Advocates Library, founded in 1682, is the law library of the Faculty of Advocates, in Edinburgh. It served as the national deposit library of Scotland until 1925, at which time through an act of Parliament, the National Library of Scotlan ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland. In 1837, he returned to Copenhagen, where in 1838, he edited the newspaper ''Dagen''. In 1848–1850, he edited the newspaper ''Tiden''. His published translations include a translation of the ''

Laxdæla saga ''Laxdæla saga'' (), Old Norse ''Laxdœla saga'' (Old Norse pronunciation ) or ''The Saga of the People of Laxárdalur'', is one of the sagas of Icelanders. Written in the 13th century CE, it tells of people in the Breiðafjörður area in weste ...

'' into

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

(1826) and a translation of

Rasmus Rask Rasmus Kristian Rask (; born Rasmus Christian Nielsen Rasch; 22 November 1787 – 14 November 1832) was a Danish linguist and philologist. He wrote several grammars and worked on comparative phonology and morphology. Rask traveled extensively ...

's ''Danish Grammar'' into English (1846).

Family

Þorleifur Repp was the son of Rosu Eigelsdr and Gudmandur Bodvarssonar; he married Petrine Nicoline Thestrup (1803-1889) in Copenhagen on 12 Sep 1826. They had four children: * Anne Hill Olivia Agnes Repp born 1830 in Edinburgh, died 1913 in Yorkshire. * Rosa Anne Elizabeth Saga Repp born c1831 in Edinburgh, died 1902 in Northumberland. She married Captain Henry Powlett Shafto Orde in 1861. * Sidney Douglas Repp born 1834 in Edinburgh, died c1905 in Queensland, Australia. * Moses Steven William Hamilton Repp, born c1843 in Copenhagen, died 1918 in Yorkshire.

References

1794 births 1857 deaths 19th-century Danish philologists Icelandic scholars University of Copenhagen alumni Icelandic philologists Icelandic librarians Repp {{Iceland-bio-stub