Knut Fredrik Söderwall


Knut Fredrik Söderwall was a Swedish philologist, professor at Lund University, and member of the Swedish Academy.

Biography

Söderwall was born 1842 in Drängsered parish, Halland County. He was the son of the parish priest Per Söderwall and Margareta Johanna von Wachenfeldt. He graduated from the Lund Cathedral School in 1858, and entered Lund University. Söderwall received a Bachelor of Arts in 1863 and a PhD in 1865. He was appointed Docent 1865 and Adjunct professor in 1872. After six years as a stand-in for Theodor Wisén he became professor in Nordic languages in 1892. The same year he was also elected to Seat No. 5 of the Swedish Academy, also there as successor to Wisén. Söderwall retired as professor in 1907. He died in Lund 30 May 1924.

Work

Söderwall's work mainly concerns Old Swedish. Between 1884 and 1918 he published a dictionary on Old Swedish, Ordbok öfver svenska medeltidsspråket, on behalf of Svenska fornskriftsällskapet. Following the success in the early work on this dictionary he was recruited by the Swedish Academy to work on Svenska Akademiens Ordbok. The work on this dictionary had stalled in the 18th century, but was restarted in the 1880s. Söderwall worked on SAOB 1884–1912. Between 1892 and 1912 he was the main editor.

Memberships in academies and learned societies

Awards