LÖNNROT, ELIAS


Meaning of LÖNNROT, ELIAS in English

born April 9, 1802, Sammatti, Swedish Finland

died March 19, 1884, Sammatti, Russian Finland

Finnish folklorist and philologist.

While serving as a medical officer for 20 years in a remote part of eastern Finland, Lönnrot collected linguistic information and folk poetry from the region's inhabitants. Believing that the short poems were fragments of a continuous epic, he added connective material of his own and assembled them into the Kalevala (1835, enlarged 1849), which became the Finnish national epic. He also published Old Songs and Ballads of the Finnish People (1840–41) and other collections.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia.      Краткая энциклопедия Британика.