Scandinavian and Dutch philology at St. Petersburg/ Leningrad University

Abstract

In the 19th — early 20th centuries at St. Petersburg University, Scandinavian philology was understood as the study of Old Norse literary works, mostly in connection with the history of Russia, there was no teaching of modern languages. The first Scandinavian language, Swedish, was taught for the first time in 1935 and they began to actively study the Scandinavian languages. The Norwegian department was opened in 1945, the Danish in 1947. A great contribution to the scientific study of various aspects of Scandinavian languages was made by the scientific and organizational activities of professor M. I. Steblin-Kamensky, who published numerous works on Scandinavian linguistics, as well as on medieval literature and mythology. He initiated the creation of the country’s first department of Scandinavian philology at Leningrad University in 1958, which he headed for 30 years. The founder of Swedish linguistics was S. S. Maslova-Lashanskaya, author of the most important works. V. P. Berkov created a whole library with his works on the Norwegian language. He is recognized as one of the world’s largest lexicographers, a specialist in bilingual dictionaries. The Scandinavists who worked at the department in different years made a significant contribution to science. In 1972, the Dutch/Netherlands branch was opened, which in a short time showed great scientific potential. Professor I. M. Mikhailova, the author of numerous publications in the field of Dutch linguistics and literary criticism, is the head of the department of Scandinavian and Dutch Philology.