mánudagur, nóvember 22, 2004

Rask

Rasmus Kristian Rask was born on this day in 1787 in Brændekilde, Denmark. His gravestone stands in Assistenskirkegården in Copenhagen.



It is, as you see, wonderfully inscribed, as befits this brilliant linguist. The bottommost line of writing is nagari - Sanskrit - apparently one of two such inscriptions in Denmark. Stefan Baums has a lovely page here with a bigger picture, discussion of the Sanskrit (in Danish), and some bibliography.

The runes spell out this piece of wisdom:

Ef þú villt fullkominn vera í fróðleik, þá nem þú öllum tungum, en týn þó ekki at heldr þinni tungu.

If you will be perfect in knowledge, then learn all languages, but do not lose your own language either.

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