Pent Nurmekund

Pent Nurmekund
Nurmekund in May 1965 (aged 58)[1]
Born	Arthur Roosmann (1906-12-16)16 December 1906 Kilingi-Nõmme, Estonia
Died	28 December 1996(1996-12-28) (aged 90) Tartu, Estonia
Nationality	Estonian
Spouse	Salme Nigol
Academic work
Discipline	Linguist
Institutions	University of Tartu

Pent Nurmekund (16 December 1906 – 28 December 1996) was an Estonian linguist and polyglot. He could read over eighty languages.[2][3]

Life

Nurmekund came from a poor peasant family and first attended school at the age of twelve.[1]

From 1930 to 1935, he studied Romance and Germanic philology at Tartu University, and graduated with a Magister Philosophiae.[3]

In 1935, he became a founding member of the Estonian Oriental Society.[4]

From 1955 to 1986, he was a lecturer at Tartu University, and in the 1950s founded the Oriental department there.[3]

In 1991, he received the Wiedemann Language Award.[3]

References

1. Rein, Kaarina (2005). "Modern Greek at the University of Tartu". In Volt, Ivo; Päll, Janika (eds.). Byzantino-Nordica 2004. Tartu: Tartu University Press. pp. 163–184. ISBN 9949112664.
2. Gethin, Amorey; Gunnemark, Erik V. (1996). The Art and Science of Learning Languages. Oxford: Intellect Books. p. 318. ISBN 1-871516-48-X.
3. Kändler, Tiit [in Estonian] (2002). A Hundred Great Estonians of the 20th Century. Estonian Encyclopaedia Publishers. pp. 122–123. ISBN 9985-70-103-8.
4. "Pent Nurmekund". Festivitas Artium. Archived from the original on 13 June 2007.