TORP, Alf. Stryn 27.9.1853 — Kristiania (Oslo) 26.9.1916. Norwegian Linguist and IE Scholar. Professor in Kristiania (Oslo). Son of a captain of infantry, Fredrik Torp (1816–1869), and Gjerthruf Ravn (1830–1876). Educated in Bergen (matriculation 1877), then studies at Kristiania (Bugge), M.A. 1877. From 1878 studied at Leipzig Sanskrit, Greek and IE under Curtius and Windisch. Ph.D. 1881 Leipzig. Back in Norway schoolteacher of Latin and Greek. 1882 Adjunktstipendiat i Sanskrit och Sammenlignende Sprogvidenskab. A new chair for the University of Kristiania was proposed in 1892 and founded in 1894. In 1894-1914 Professor eo. for Sanskrit and Comparative Linguistics at Kristiania. Married 1897 Jenny Marie Johnson (1873–1966).
Torp began his career as IE linguist influenced by the Neo-Grammarians of Leipzig. Later he was much interested in epigraphical remainder languages such as Phrygian, Lycian, Etruscan, Venetic and Messapic, but also in Germanistics and Old Norse. After 1900 he mainly dealt with Norwegian linguistics. A Neo-Latin poet.
Publications: Diss. Die Flexion des Pāli in ihrem Verhältnis zum Sanskrit. 93 p. Kristiania 1881.
– Beiträge zur Lehre von dem geschlechtslosen Pronomen in den idg. Sprachen. 51 p. Christiania videnskabs-selskabs forhandlinger 1888:11. Kristiania 1889; “Vokal- og Konsonantstammer”, Akademiske afhandlingar til Prof. Dr. Sophus Bugge. Kristiania 1889, 81-97; Den græske Nominal-Flexion. 156 p. Kristiania 1890; also on Phrygian, Etruscan, etc.
– Wrote much on linguistics, participated in a large dictionary of Old Norse and in an etymological dictionary of Danish and Norwegian.
Sources: Hovdhaugen et al. 2000, 171f.; E.H. Jahr, Norsk Biogr. Leksikon online 2009 with photo; Chr. Stang, Norsk Biogr. Lexikon 16, 1969, 547-552; *J. Sverdup, Idg. Jb. 6, 1918, 120-126; *F. Thordarson, Lex. Gramm. 1996, 927f.; *Festskrift til Professor Torp. Kristiania 1915 (with photo, again in Pedersen 1959, 210); Wikipedia with photo (more in Swedish and Norwegian version).
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