Prods Oktor Skjaervo

Prods Oktor Skjaervo (Norwegian: Prods Oktor Skjærvø) (born in Steinkjer, Norway) is Emeritus Professor of Iranian Studies at department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations in Harvard University[1], where he succeeded Richard Frye as Aga Khan Professor of Iranian Studies. He is a hyperpolyglot, familiar with both living and extinct languages including Old Norse, Norwegian, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Latin, Larestani, Kumzari, Bashkardi, Pashto, Yidgha, Yaghnobi, Munji, Old Khotanese, Avestan, Old Persian, Pahlavi, Manichean Middle Persian, Parthian, Sogdian, Khotanese, New Persian, Pashto, Ossetic, Kurdish, Tokharian, Vedic, and Classical Sanskrit.

Prods Oktor Skjaervo
Norwegian: Prods Oktor Skjærvø
Born
Steinkjer, Norway
OccupationAga Khan Professor of Iranian Studies (Emeritus) at Harvard University
Academic background
Education
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Dr. habil.)
University of Oslo (Ph.D.)
University of Copenhagen (M.A.)
University of Oslo (B.A.)
Alma materUniversity of Oslo
ThesisThe Paikuli Inscription, Restoration and Interpretation. Pt. 1 Restored Text and Translation (109 pp.). Pt 2. Introduction and Commentary (1981)
Academic work
Main interestsIranian Studies, Linguistics
Notable worksThe Spirit of Zoroastrianism
An Introduction to Old Persian


Education

In 1963 Skjaervo went to Oslo University where he studied French, Latin, and Sanskrit, with a semester in 1965 at the Sorbonne in Paris. He earned his B.A. (candidatus magisterii) in 1970. In 1974 he completed his M.A. with the thesis, “Undersøkelser til verbalsystemet i gammelpersisk og vestlig middeliransk” (Investigations into the verbal systems of Old Persian and Western Middle Iranian), on which he subsequently based his “Remarks on the Old Persian Verbal System”.[2] He then earned his Ph.D. in 1981 from the University of Oslo, where his thesis was entitled, "The Paikuli Inscription, Restoration and Interpretation. Pt. 1 Restored Text and Translation (109 pp.). Pt 2. Introduction and Commentary".

A list of ligatures in the Avestan script according to Skjærvø (2003)

Chairs and Committees

Skjaervo has been Chair of The Committee for Inner Asian and Altaic Studies from 1993 to 2000, Chair of the Department of Sanskrit during a troubled period in 1995/1996, and Chair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilisations from 2002 to 2006 and again in 2009. He has also been, in 1997, Guest Lecturer at Eötvös Loránd Tudomány University, Budapest; Université de la Sorbonne, Paris; and Università di Studi di Roma, La Sapienza; and in May–June 2000 he was visiting professor at the Collège de France, Paris. He additionally serves as a Consulting Editor for the Encyclopædia Iranica.[3]

Selected Books

Skjaervo has published widely in a number of languages:

English
  • Skjaervo, Prods Oktor (2016). An Introduction to Old Persian.
  • Skjaervo, Prods Oktor (2004). This Most Excellent Shine of Gold, King of Kings of Sutras. The Khotanese Suvarṇabhāsottamasūtra, Sources of Oriental languages and literatures 60-61, Central Asian sources 5-6. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.
  • Skjaervo, Prods Oktor; Ursula Sims-Williams (contributor) (2002). Khotanese Manuscripts from Chinese Turkestan in The British Library. A Complete Catalogue with Texts and Translations (Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum II/V, Texts VI). London: The British Library.
  • Humbach, Helmut; Josef Horblit Elfenbein; Prods Oktor Skjaervo (1991). The Gathas of Zarathustra: and the other Old Avestan Texts. C. Winter. ISBN 978-3825344733.
  • Humbach, Helmut; Prods Oktor Skjaervo (1983). The Sassanian Inscription of Paikuli: 3.1. Restored Text and Translation; 3.2. Commentary. Reichert. ISBN 978-3-88226-156-1.

Norwegian
  • Thomassen, Einar; Prods Oktor Skjærvø (2011). Manikeiske skrifter. Transliterates. (Verdens hellige skrifter). Oslo: Bokklubben.
  • Skjærvø, Prods Oktor (2003). Zarathustras sanger. De eldste iranske skriftene. (Verdens hellige skrifter). Oslo: De norske bokklubbene.

References
  1. Harvard University P.O. Skjaervo Faculty Profile
  2. Skjærvø, Prods Oktor (1985). "Remarks on the Old Persian Verbal System". Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft (45): 211–227.
  3. Encyclopædia Iranica Consulting Editors Retrieved 2020-29-06.
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