ABOUT PHI

The Norwegian Institute of Philology (PHI) is an independent research institution based in Oslo, Norway. Our research focuses on historical philology, i.e. the study of ancient and classical languages and their historical, literary and cultural environment. One of the objectives of PHI is to emphasize the need for comparative historical philology in an increasingly globalized world.

MF VITENSKAPELIG HØYSKOLE

MF og PHI har siden januar 2019 arbeidet sammen for å sikre høyere utdanning, forskning og formidling av historisk filologi og klassiske kulturspråk fra hele verden.

NEWS AND EVENTS

An overview of recent news and upcoming events, including a news archive.

COVID-19 PANDEMIC

In the current situation, and most likely continuing through the Spring term of 2021, a number of activities at the Norwegian Institute of Philology have been reduced, and many events and projects have been either cancelled or postponed. With both national and local regulations constantly shifting, we cannot guarantee that we will be fully operational until this situation is resolved, hopefully well ahead of the Fall term of 2021.

RESEARCH PROJECTS

The Norwegian institute of Philology conducts and is involved in a number of research activities, in Norway and internationally. 

SPRÅKKURS 2021–2022

PHI tilbyr innføringskurs i en rekke klassiske kulturspråk: sumerisk, akkadisk, sanskrit, tibetansk, hebraisk, kinesisk, arabisk, kirkeslavisk, middelalderlatin, gammelegyptisk (hieroglyfer), koptisk, arameisk, persisk, avestisk og klassisk syrisk. Instituttet tilbyr også undervisning i moderne språk der det er faglig relevant: moderne hebraisk, arabiske talespråk.

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Tilbudet gis av PHI i samarbeid med MF vitenskapelig høyskole for teologi, religion og samfunn.

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Påmeldingsfrist: 15. juni 2021.

RESEARCH SEMINARS SPRING 2021

Every week the Norwegian Institute of Philology (PHI) holds research seminars where we read texts in a number of ancient and classical languages. Several of these seminars are awarded ECTS credits for advanced students. 

In 2021 the weekly seminars include texts in Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, Syriac, Persian, Georgian, Armenian, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Ancient North Arabian and Sumerian.

THE MULTILINGUAL HISTORICAL KORAN

In 2018 PHI  launched an initiative to publish a multilingual and historical edition of the Koran – a project which investigates several aspects of this central document of Islam and of the Arabic language.

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PHI organises a weekly Koran reading seminar studying the original text with early translations into Greek (870 AD), Persian (976 AD and 10th century), Turkic (11th century) and Latin (1143 and 1210).

LANDEY

The Landey project is an initiative to raise awareness about Afghan women's poetry, in Afghanistan and in Norway.

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​On February 8th 2018 the Embassy of Afghanistan in Oslo kindly hosted the launch of our project Language, Legacy and Landey. The project has so far organised a number of events (in Oslo, Lillehammer, London and Toronto), and there are more events and activities coming up. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram and check out our project website to stay posted!

LINGUISTIC ATLAS OF AFGHANISTAN

The Linguistic Atlas of Afghanistan (ALA) was a massive and ambitious project undertaken in Afghanistan in the 1960s and 1970s. The revival of the Linguistic Atlas of Afghanistan (2018–) is a collaborative undertaking of academic institutions in Switzerland, Afghanistan, Norway, the UK and the US. The coordinating institution is the Norwegian Institute of Philology (PHI).

I DØDE SPRÅKS SELSKAP

I døde språks selskap er en arrangements-serie om fortidens store språk og kulturer – et samarbeid mellom Norsk filologisk institutt og Universitetsbiblioteket. Les mer.

BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT

This project studies the earliest cross-cultural transmission, from India through the Middle East to Europe, of one of the most popular literary works in medieval European literature and art: the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat – the story of an Indian pagan prince who becomes a Christian prophet.

BIBLIOTHECA POLYGLOTTA

The Bibliotheca Polyglotta (BP) is a digital corpus of major historical multilingual texts.

The BP is a rich database for linguistic and philological research, and documents the global history of concepts as displayed in a number of languages, and it demonstrates how concepts diffuse historically into new languages, and thus into new cultural contexts.