Knut Liestøl (13 November 1881 – 26 June 1952) was a Norwegian folklorist,

Nynorsk Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...

proponent and politician. He was born in

Åseral Åseral is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is in the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kyrkjebygda. Other villages in Åseral include Eikerapen, Kylland, Ljosland, ...

to farmers Olav Knutson Liestøl (1855–1944) and Sigrid Røynelid (1856–1950). He was a nephew of Lars Liestøl. In July 1913 he married farmers' daughter Signe Høgetveit. Their son Olav became a noted glaciologist. A folklorist by profession, he took the dr.philos. degree in 1915 with the thesis ''Norske trollvisor og norrøne sogor'' (Norwegian troll songs and Norse sagas). He was appointed as a

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 ...

at the

Royal Frederick University The University of Oslo (; ) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick University, the university was established in 1811 as the de facto Norwegian conti ...

in 1909 and promoted to professor of folkloristics in 1917. He also served in Mowinckel's Third Cabinet as Minister of Education and Church Affairs from 1933 to 1935. He was also the chairman of

Noregs Mållag Noregs Mållag (literally "Language Organisation of Norway") is the main organisation for Norwegian Nynorsk (New Norwegian), one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language Norwegian ( ) is a North Germanic language from th ...

from 1925 to 1926. Liestøl was a fellow of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick University in Christiania was establis ...

from 1916 and graduated as a Knight, Grand Cross of the

Order of the Falcon The Order of the Falcon () is the only order of chivalry in Iceland, founded by Christian X of Denmark, King Christian X of Denmark and Iceland on 3 July 1921. The award is awarded for merit for Iceland and humanity and has five degrees. Nowaday ...

and the

Order of the Three Stars Order of the Three Stars () is the highest civilian order awarded for meritorious service to Latvia. It was established in 1924 in remembrance of the founding of Latvia. Its motto is ''Per aspera ad astra'', meaning "Through hardships towards the ...

. He resided at Ramstad. He died in June 1952 in Bærum.

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* 1881 births 1952 deaths People from Åseral Norwegian folklorists Academic staff of the University of Oslo Government ministers of Norway Liberal Party (Norway) politicians Noregs Mållag Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon Ministers of education of Norway {{Norway-politician-1880s-stub