Johan Gabriel Sparwenfeld (; (17 July, 1655 – 2 June, 1727) was a 17th-century Swedish

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

and

diarist A diary is a writing, written or audiovisual Memorabilia, memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by Calendar date, date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwriti ...

Biography

Johan Gabriel Sparwenfeld was born to Johan Sparwenfeld (1618–1698) and Christina Uggla. Sparwenfeld began his studies at the age of eight in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

. Some researchers believe that he studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and

languages Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing. Human language is ch ...

. And after he had finished studying Sparwenfeld went to search for old Swedish

manuscripts A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has c ...

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. In 1674, he was brought by his uncle, amiral

Claes Uggla ClaesAlso written as Claas, Clas or Klas. Johansson Uggla (1614 – 1 June 1676) was a Swedish military officer of the 17th century, who served in both the army and the navy, reaching the rank of admiral before he was killed in action during ...

, on a voyage to the

Duchy of Holstein The Duchy of Holstein (; ) was the northernmost state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It originated when King Christian I of Denmark had his County of Holstein-Rendsburg elevated to a duchy ...

. And during the

Scanian War The Scanian War (; ; ; ) was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark–Norway, Electorate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg and Swedish Empire, Sweden. It was fought from 1675 to 1679 mainly on Scanian soil, in the former Danish ...

(1675–1679) he was captured and brought to England when a Danish corsair caused the ship to sink. It was not until three years later that he was given permission to return to Sweden. In 1684, Sparwenfeld was sent to the Swedish embassy in Moscow. It was during this time that he wrote his diary portraying life and culture in Russia. During his visit to Russia, Sparwenfeld became interested in

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto- ...

, he began to learn Russian and did so really well. He later started with lexicographical studies in Slavic languages and held on to that work for almost 20 years. His work later made him publish the '' Lexicon Slavonicum''. Sparwenfeld had a strong interest in Arabic. He is known to have acquired the ''Barthélémy d'Herbelots Bibliothéque Ori-entale'' in 1697 from Paris. In which several notes had been made by him showing his interest and knowledge in Arabic. Sparwenfeld had a special interest in Syrian Arabic. Sparwenfeld is known to have been able to speak 14 languages. Including Spanish, Arabic, Latin, Russian and Greek.

Personal life

Sparwenfeld married Antoinetta Sophia Hildebrand in 1695. In the following eight years, Sparwenfeld and Hildebrand had a total of eight children.

In popular culture

In September 2020 Sparwenfeld and his estate Åbylund in the parish of Romfartuna in Sweden were depicted in the SVT-series ''Det sitter I väggarna''.

Publications

Lexicon Slavonicum

J.G. Sparwenfeld's diary of a journey to Russia
(1684–1687) * Sparwenfeld's Map of Siberia

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sparwenfeld, Johan Gabriel 1655 births 1727 deaths 18th-century Swedish people Swedish people of German descent 17th-century Swedish diarists Linguists from Sweden Ambassadors of Sweden to the Tsardom of Russia Multilingual writers Swedish orientalists Bibliophiles People from Åmål Municipality