Hjalmar Falk


Peterolsen Groth Hjalmar Seierstedt Falk was a Norwegian linguist and philologist.

Early life and education

Falk was born in Vang. He started his university studies in 1876 and graduated with an education degree in languages and history in 1882. After this he taught in Oslo while continuing research, especially on Germanic languages and Nordic mythology, including scholarship stays in Germany and England. Falk received the Crown Prince Gold Medal in 1885 and was appointed a docent. He received his doctorate in 1888 with the dissertation Om nomina agentis i det oldnorske Sprog.

Academic career

Falk became a professor of Germanic philology at the University of Oslo in 1897. As a university instructor, especially a German instructor, he strove for more practical and modern language teaching. He published a number of works on linguistics, philology, and cultural history, especially in Nordisk Arkiv for Filologi and in materials published by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in Oslo. He is particularly remembered for his etymological dictionary of the Norwegian and Danish language, which he wrote in cooperation with Alf Torp. He chaired the commission that recommended/prepared the orthography revision of 1917. He was decorated Knight, First Class of the Order of St. Olav.

Selected works