Harald Noreng (25 April 1913 – 7 February 2006) was a Norwegian literary researcher and lexicographer.

Personal life

He was born on the island of

Hisøya Hisøya or Hisøy (historically: ''Hisøen'') is an island in Agder county, Norway. The island has been part of the municipality of Arendal since 1992. The main village areas on the island are Kolbjørnsvik, His, Slåbervig, and Sandviga. The ...

in the municipality of

Hisøy Hisøy (historically: ''Hisø'') is a former municipality in the old Aust-Agder county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1881 until 1992 when it was merged into the municipality of Arendal in what is now Agder county. At the time of i ...

in 1913. He was the son of boat builder Johan Wilhelm Hanssen (1887–1967) and Kathrine Marie Pettersen (1888–1971). He changed his last name from Hanssen to Noreng in 1933. In February 1941 he married jurist Alice Schwabe-Hansen (1915–2004). They had two children, Øystein Noreng (1942–) and Astrid Noreng Sjølie (1946–2023).

Career

He finished his secondary education in 1932, and enrolled in philology at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

. He took the cand.philol. degree in 1940 with the thesis ''Nils Kjær og nyromantikken''. He worked as a teacher, mainly at

Oslo Cathedral School Schola Osloensis, known in Norwegian language, Norwegian as Oslo Katedralskole (''Oslo Cathedral School'') and more commonly as "Katta",

, until 1958, except for several years as a researcher. He held research fellowship both at the University of Oslo,

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 at NAVF. He took the dr.philos. degree in 1949 with the thesis ''Nils Kjær. Fra radikal til reaksjonær''. The opponents at his thesis defence were

Francis Bull Francis Bull (4 October 1887 – 4 July 1974) was a Norwegian literary historian, professor at the University of Oslo for more than thirty years, essayist and speaker, and magazine editor. Early and personal life Bull was born on 4 October ...

, A. H. Winsnes and Gunnar Høst. In 1958 he was hired as a lecturer at the University of Oslo. From 1960 to 1980 he was a professor of European literature at the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen () is a public university, public research university in Bergen, Norway. As of 2021, the university had over 4,000 employees and 19,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 1946 consolidating several sci ...

. Among his later works the publication the complete works of Christian Braunmann Tullin between 1972 and 1976. After retiring as a professor he led the long-time project to register and list every word used throughout the authorship of

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

in an electronic

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...

. The project spanned from 1978 to 1986, and resulted in the 1987 release ''Henrik Ibsens ordskatt. Vokabular over hans diktning'', edited by Noreng, Knut Hofland and Kristin Natvig. Noreng also worked with volumes one through four of the dictionary ''

Norsk Riksmålsordbok ''Norsk Riksmålsordbok'' () is a Norwegian dictionary for the unofficial written language form Riksmål. The work was initiated by ''Riksmaalsvernet'' around 1920. Its first edition was completed in 1957, and was printed in four volumes. Two ex ...

'' between 1938 and 1957, and in 1995 he wrote two extra volumes. For this he received the

Fritt Ord Honorary Award Fritt Ord Award consists of two prizes awarded by the Fritt Ord Foundation (''Stiftelsen Fritt Ord''). Two prizes are awarded in support of freedom of speech and freedom of expression; the Fritt Ord Award () and the Fritt Ord Honorary Award (). ...

in 1995. He died in February 2006 in Oslo.

References

1913 births 2006 deaths Norwegian literary historians Norwegian male biographers Norwegian lexicographers Riksmål-language writers University of Oslo alumni Oslo Cathedral School faculty Academic staff of the University of Oslo Academic staff of the University of Bergen People from Arendal 20th-century Norwegian biographers 20th-century Norwegian male writers 20th-century lexicographers {{Norway-academic-bio-stub