Elias Wessén

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Elias Wessén (1889-1981) was a prominent Swedish linguist and a professor of North Germanic languages at Stockholm University (1928-1956). In 1947, he was honoured with one of the 18 seats at the Swedish Academy (which for instance awards the Nobel Prize in Literature). Wessen .

His earliest work concerned morphological problems in the Germanic languages, Onomasiology and Norse mythology. He published parts of Sveriges runinskrifter, editions of medieval texts and together with Åke Holmbäck, a translation of the Swedish medieval province laws (with commentaries). He published several reference works, such as Svensk språkhistoria in three tomes, and a grammar for modern Swedish Vårt svenska språk. In 1944, he initiatied Nämnden för svensk språkvård (nowadays Svenska språknämnden, the Swedish Language Council).