Konrad Hartvig Isak Rosenvinge Nielsen (28 August 1875 – 27 November 1953) was a Norwegian philologist. He spent most of his career as a professor at the Royal Frederick University (University of Oslo) as a lecturer, textbook writer, lexicographer and translator. His specialty was

Sami languages Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

, also called Lapp languages in his day.

Personal life and education

He was born in Vik i Helgeland as a son of politician Sivert Andreas Nielsen (1823–1904) and his wife Jonette Cornelie Falch Heide (1833–1925). In December 1924 he married Gudrun Augusta Agnes Müller (1889–1954). He was the father of diplomat Sivert Andreas Nielsen. Nielsen's family moved from Vik to Bodø when Nielsen was eight years old. He finished his secondary education in 1892, and graduated from the Royal Frederick University with the cand.theol. degree in 1896. However, he changed his specialty to

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

. In 1897 and 1898 he took exams in

Kven KVEN (1520 AM, "") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Port Hueneme, California and serves the Ventura County area. The station is owned by Gold Coast Broadcasting and broadcasts a Spanish-language talk/sports format. By day ...

and

, and from 1898 to 1899 he studied Finnish at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

Career

In July 1899 Nielsen was appointed as a lecturer in Kven and Sami at the Royal Frederick University. In 1903 he took the dr.philos. degree at the University of Helsinki with the thesis ''Die Quantitätsverhältnisse im Polmak-lappischen'', about the language in Polmak. He was promoted to professor of

Finno-Ugric languages Finno-Ugric () is a traditional linguistic grouping of all languages in the Uralic language family except for the Samoyedic languages. Its once commonly accepted status as a subfamily of Uralic is based on criteria formulated in the 19th centur ...

in 1911. He ultimately retired as a professor in 1946, but had several absences of leave between 1911 and 1946. Among others, he sat 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 ...

as a member of the Reindeer Grazing Commission between 1913 and 1917. He was succeeded in 1947 by Knut Bergsland. His main works were in the Norwegian language. He released the textbook ''Lærebok i lappisk'' in three volumes between 1926 and 1929, and the dictionary ''Lappisk ordbok – Lapp Dictionary'' in three volumes between 1932 and 1938. In addition, he was a translator. He also helped the Norwegian Geological Survey with Sami place names. After the stay in Copenhagen, Nielsen lived with his family in Vettakollen. He also learned Turkish and Hungarian.

Awards

He was a member 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 ...

and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and held an honorary degree at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

. He was decorated as a Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1946, was a Commander of the Finnish Order of the White Rose and the Estonian Order of the Cross of the Eagle, and a Knight of the Swedish Order of the Polar Star. He died in November 1953 in Oslo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Konrad 1875 births 1953 deaths Norwegian philologists Norwegian lexicographers Norwegian translators University of Oslo alumni University of Helsinki alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Knights of the Order of the Polar Star Recipients of the Military Order of the Cross of the Eagle, Class III