The Poetic Edda:
Icelandic Poems Translated by F. G. Bergmann, 1838
Frédéric Guillaume Bergmann,
also Frederich Wilhelm Bergmann
(1812-1887)
French Translation by William P. Reaves
French Transcription by Yves Kodratoff
Friedrich Wilhelm Bergmann, was a linguist, born in Strassburg on February 9th, 1812. He attended the academy there, where he earned his degree, "Bachelor of Theology”, in 1834. He later studied Sanskrit and Old Arabic in Göttingen and Berlin. In 1836, he moved to Paris, where he studied Arabic, Ethiopian, and Zend under Silvestre de Sacy and Eugene Burnouf for two years. At Burnouf's request, he devoted himself to the study of Nordic languages and literature, in which field he would develop a very extensive bibliography, making Bergmann one of the earliest scholars in the field. Well-respected, Bergmann's works would be cited in most all of the important works on the Eddas published in the next 100 years.
In 1838, he published Poëmes Islandais (Icelandic Poems), including one of the first complete and exact translations of Völuspá, Váfþrúðnismál, and Lokasenna, in any modern European language. In 1839 he became "Doctor of Letters” and in 1840, a professor in foreign literature with "la Faculté des Lettres" (College of Letters) in Strassburg, where he lectured on Nordic literature. A prolific author, Bergmann published many works in the following years, including:
In 1871, as a concession after the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1), France ceded Alsace to the Germans and the region became known as the Reichsland Elsass-Lothringen or the Alsace-Lorraine. Strassburg thus fell under German rule, continuing until World War I (1914-1918), after which, Alsace was returned to France. Thus, after 1871, Bergmann's works were published in German. Among these are:
Frederich Wilhem Bergmann died in Strassburg in 1877, at age 75.
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