Global InformationList of Kalevala translations information
A list of translations of the Finnish national epic Kalevala in chronological order by language. The epic has appeared in 61 translated languages.[1]
Based partially on the list made by Rauni Puranen and the article here.
| Language | Year | Translator | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| German | 1840 | N. Mühlberg | The first 60 lines of the first song, published in: Verhandlungen der gelehrten Esthnischen Gesellschaft zu Dorpat. Ersten Bandes erstes Heft. 1840, 94–96. |
| 1848 | Jacob Grimm | A short 38 line reading at a presentation in the Berlin Academy of Sciences. | |
| 1852 | Franz Anton Schiefner | A very important translation used by many other translators to bring Kalevala to their own language. | |
| 1885–1886 | H. Paul | ||
| 1967 | Lore Fromm, Hans Fromm | Full translation directly from Finnish. | |
| 2004[1] | Gisbert Jänicke | Full translation. | |
| Swedish | 1841 | M. A. Castrén | Full translation of the 1835 Old Kalevala. |
| 1864–1868 | Karl Collan | Full translation of the 1849 Kalevala. | |
| 1884 | Rafaël Hertzberg | ||
| 1944 | Olaf Homén | An abridged edition | |
| 1948 | Björn Collinder | trims about 10% of the text | |
| 1999 | Lars Huldén and Mats Huldén | ||
| French | 1845 and 1867 | Louis Léouzon le Duc | An important translation used by many other translators to bring Kalevala to their own language. |
| 1926 | Charles Guyot | Abridged version of Louis Léouzon le Duc's translation. | |
| 1927 | Jean Louis Perret | Full translation in metric verse. | |
| 1991 | Gabriel Rebourcet | Full translation. In old style French vocabulary. | |
| English | 1868 | John Addison Porter | Partial translation (The story of Aino[2]) via Franz Anton Schiefner's translation. |
| 1869 | Edward Taylor Fletcher | Partial translation directly from Finnish (with a lengthy essay). | |
| 1888[3] | John Martin Crawford | Full translation, via Franz Anton Schiefner's translation. | |
| 1893[4][5] | R. Eivind | A complete prose adaptation for children via Crawford's translation. | |
| 1907[6][7] | William Forsell Kirby | Second full translation. Directly from Finnish. Imitates the Kalevala meter. | |
| 1950[4] | Aili Kolehmainen Johnson | Abridged prose translation. | |
| 1954[4] | Margaret Sperry | Adapted verse translation of song 50. | |
| 1963[8] | Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. | Scholarly prose translation. Included with detailed essays and background information. | |
| 1969[9] | Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. | Scholarly prose translation of the 1835 Old Kalevala. | |
| 1977 | Ursula Synge | Abridged prose version. Using W. F. Kirby's translation as a reference. | |
| 1989 | Eino Friberg | Editing and introduction by George C. Schoolfield. Imitates the Kalevala meter selectively. The songs in this version are also not of the same length or structure as in the original.[10] Released to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the original publication. | |
| 1989[11] | Keith Bosley | Uses a syllabic verse form to allow for accuracy and metrical variety; released to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the original publication. Subsequently, published as an audiobook read by the translator himself in 2013. | |
| 2020 | Kaarina Brooks | Complete translation of runic version of 1835 Old Kalevala, following the Kalevala meter throughout. | |
| 2021 | Kaarina Brooks | Complete translation of runic version Kalevala, following the Kalevala meter throughout. | |
| Hungarian | 1871 | Ferdinánd Barna | Full translation via Franz Anton Schiefner's translation. |
| 1909[12] | Béla Vikár | ||
| 1971 | Kálmán Nagy | ||
| 1976 | István Rácz | ||
| 1985[13] | Antal Reguly | Old Kalevala songs 1-3 and 29. | |
| 1987 | Imre Szente | ||
| Russian | 1888[14] | Leonid Petrovic Belsky | An important translation used by many other Slavic translators to bring Kalevala to their own language. |
| 1998[15] & 2006[13] | Eino Kiuru and Armas Hiiri | ||
| Estonian | 1891–1898 | M. J. Eisen | |
| 1938 | August Annist | ||
| Czech | 1894–1895 | J. Holeček | Full translation in metric verse. |
| Ukrainian | 1901 | Jevhen Tymčenko | |
| Danish | 1902 | Ferdinand Ohrt | Partial translation. |
| 1994 | Hilkka and Bent Søndergaard | ||
| Italian | 1909[16] | Igino Cocchi | Verse translation (hendecasyllable) |
| 1910[17] | Paolo Emilio Pavolini | Verse translation (original metre) | |
| 1912[16] | Francesco Di Silvestri Falconieri | Prose translation | |
| 1980 | Liliana Calimeri | Used Ursula Synge's version as a model. | |
| 1988[16] | Gabriella Agrati and Maria Letizia Magini | Prose translation | |
| 2010[16] | Marcello Ganassini | Verse translation (blank verses) | |
| Lithuanian | 1922 | Adolfas Sabaliauskas | |
| 1972 | Justinas Marcinkevičius | ||
| Latvian | 1924[13] | Linards Laicens | |
| 1965 | ? | Uses trochaic tetrameter and syllable stress rhythm. | |
| Dutch | 1928[13] | Maya Tamminen | Partial prose translation. |
| 1938 | Wies Moens | Full prose translation. | |
| 1940[13] | Jan H. Eekhout. | An excerpt in poetic form. | |
| 1969 | Jr. Henrik Hartwijk | Translation of song #5. Published in the Yearbook of the Kalevala Society. | |
| Serbian | 1935 | Ivan S. Šajković | |
| Japanese | 1937 | Kakutan Morimoto | |
| 1961[13] | Tsutomu Kuwaki | ||
| 1976 | Tamotsu Koizumi | ||
| Spanish | 1944 | Alejandro Casona | Abridged prose translation, based on Charles Guyot's version. |
| 1953 | María Dolores Arroyo | Full metric verse translation via Perret's French and Pavolini's Italian translations | |
| 1967 | Juan B. Bergua | Full prose translation, via French and English translations | |
| 1985 | Ursula Ojanen and Joaquín Fernández | Full translation directly from Finnish. | |
| 1995 | Carmen Crouzeilles | Abridged prose translation. Published in Buenos Aires. | |
| Romanian | 1946 | Barbu B. Brezianu's | Full prose translation. |
| 1959 | Iulian Vesper | Full translation using an eight syllable verse form. | |
| 1985[13] | P. Starostin | Published in Moldovan which is identical to Romanian. Abridged translation. | |
| Hebrew | 1954 | Shaul Tchernichovsky | |
| 1978 | Sarah Tubia | ||
| Yiddish | 1954[18] | Hersh Rosenfeld | |
| Belarusian | 1956[13] | M. Mašapa | Prose and poetry excerpts. |
| Icelandic | 1957 & 1962[13] | Karl Ísfeld | This translation utilises the Icelandic "three-par" alliteration method. |
| Chinese | 1962 | Shih Hêng | Translated via the Russian translation. |
| 1981[19] | Sun Yong | Translated via W.F.Kirby's English translation. | |
| 2000[13] | Zhang Hua Wen | ||
| Esperanto | 1964 | Johan Edvard Leppäkoski | Full translation in Kalevala meter, published as trochaic octometers (one for every two Finnish verses) with mandatory central caesura |
| Turkish | 1965[20] | Hilmi Ziya Ülken | Translation of the first 2 songs. Using the Hungarian and French as basis. Published in the Yearbook of the Kalevala Society, volume 43 (1963) |
| 1982 | Lale and Muammar Oğuz | Full interpreted prose translation. Missing 25% of the original content for artistic purposes. | |
| Norwegian | 1967 | Albert Lange Fliflet | Nynorsk language translation. Based on an earlier unpublished translation. |
| Georgian | 1969[13] | M. Macavarian, Š. Tšantladze & G. Dzneladze. | |
| Arabic | 1970 | Muhamed Said al-Juneid | Abridged translation published in the yearbook of the Kalevala Society. |
| 1991[21] | Sahban Ahmad Mroueh | ||
| Armenian | 1972[13] | A. Siras. Proosaa | Abridged prose translation. |
| Polish | 1974 | Józef Ozga-Michalski | Full translation based on the work of Karol Laszecki. |
| 1998 | Jerzy Litwiniuk | Full translation | |
| Komi | 1980 & 1984[13] | Adolf Turkin | Partial translation (Väinämöinen's playing and song 10.) |
| Fulani | 1983 | Alpha A. Diallo | Book was published in Hungary, illustrated with Akseli Gallen-Kallela's artwork. |
| Tulu | 1985 | Amrith Someshwar | Used Keith Bosley's Wanton Loverboy to aid in the translation of some parts. |
| Latin[22] | 1986 | Tuomo Pekkanen | |
| Vietnamese | 1986 | Cao Xuân Nghiêp | Full prose translation. |
| 1991 | Hoàng Thái Anh | Full prose translation. | |
| 1994 | Búi Viêt Hòa's | Full translation in metrical verse. | |
| Slovak | 1986[13] | Marek Svetlik & Jan Petr Velkoborský. | |
| Hindi | 1990 & 1997[13] | Vishnu Khare | |
| Slovene | 1991 | Jelka Ovaska Novak | Partial translation. |
| 1997 | Jelka Ovaska Novak | Full translation. | |
| Swahili | 1992 | Jan Knappert | Illustrated with Tanzanian Robino Ntila's graphics. |
| Bulgarian | 1992 | Nino Nikolov | |
| Greek | 1992 [13] | Maria Martzoukou | Verse translation of the first 20 poems with prose translation of the rest. |
| Faroese | 1993 | Jóhannes av Skarði | |
| Tamil | 1994[23] | R. Sivalingam (Uthayanan) | Full translation. Introduction by Asko Parpola. |
| Catalan | 1997 | Ramon Garriga i Marquès, Pirkko-Merja Lounavaara | Full translation in metric verse, directly from Finnish. |
| 1997 | Encarna Sant-Celoni i Verger | Abridged prose translation. | |
| Persian | 1998 | Mahmoud Amir Yar Ahmadi and Mercedeh Khadivar Mohseni | Full translation directly from Finnish. |
| Macedonian | 1998 | Vesna Acevska | |
| Kannada | 2001 | Dr K R Sandhya Reddy | Full translation from English. |
| Croatian | 2001 | Stjepan A. Szabo | Partial translation in narrative form. |
| 2006 | Slavko Peleh | Full translation using the German translation partially. | |
| Low German | 2001[13] | Herbert Strehmel | |
| Oriya | 2001[13] | Mahendra Kumar Mishra | Prose translation. |
| Udmurt | 2001[13] | Anatoli Uvarov | Summary. |
| Veps | 2003[13] | Nina Zaiceva | Verse summary. |
| 2022[24] | Nina Zaiceva | Full translation. | |
| Portuguese | 2007 | Orlando Moreira | Full translation from an English version. |
| 2009 | José Bizerril and Álvaro Faleiros | Partial translation. Only the first song. | |
| 2013 | Ana Soares & Merja de Mattos-Parreira | Full translation from Finnish; in verse; with critical introduction, and hundreds of footnotes. | |
| Meänkieli | 2007[13] | Bengt Pohjanen | Translation of a select four songs. |
| Urdu | 2012[13] | Arshad Farooq | |
| Belarusian | 2015[25] | Yakub Lapatka | |
| Livvi-Karelian | 2015 | Raisa Remšujeva | |
| Karelian | 2015 | Zinaida Dubinina |
- ^ a b "National epic "The Kalevala" reaches the respectable age of 175". Retrieved 23 August 2010.
- ^ John Martin Crawford. "Kalevala - The national epic of Finland" Preface to the First edition, (1888).
- ^ Kalevala: The Epic Poem of Finland. Retrieved August 19, 2010.
- ^ a b c Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. "The Kalevala or Poems of the Kaleva district" Appendix (1963).
- ^ Finnish Legends for English Children. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
- ^ Kirby, W. F. (1907). Kalevala: The Land of Heroes. Vol. 1. London: Dent.
- ^ Kirby, W. F. (1907). Kalevala: The Land of Heroes. Vol. 2. London: Dent.
- ^ The Kalevala; or, Poems of the Kaleva District, compiled by Elias Lönnrot, trans. by Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963).
- ^ The Old Kalevala, and Certain Antecedents, compiled by Elias Lönnrot, trans. by Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1969).
- ^ Eino Friberg. "Kalevala - Epic of the Finnish people" Introduction of the first edition, (1989).
- ^ Elias Lönnrot, The Kalevala: An Epic Poem After Oral Tradition, trans. by Keith Bosley (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
- ^ "KALEVALA SZEMELVÉNYEK A FINNEK NAIV EPOSZÁBÓL". Retrieved August 19, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v "Kalevalan käännökset ja kääntäjät". Retrieved 23 August 2010.
- ^ "Leonid Petrovic Belsky - Калевала". Retrieved August 19, 2010.
- ^ "Eino Kiuru and Armas Hiiri - Калевала". Retrieved August 19, 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Il Kalevala (Riduzione dell'articolo di Dario Giansanti)". Bifröst.
- ^ "Kalevala (Traduzione e note di Paolo Emilio Pavolini)". Bifröst.
- ^ "Kalevala: Folks epos fun di Finen". Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ^ "Sun Yong - Kalevala". Archived from the original on June 5, 2010. Retrieved August 19, 2010.
- ^ Hilmi Ziya Ülken. "Turkish translation of The Kaevala Runos 1 and 2" Yearbook of the Kalevala Society, volume 43 (1963)..
- ^ Sahban Ahmed Mroueh, Kaj Öhrnberg, and Jussi Aro, الكاليفالا: ملحمة الشعب الفنلندي [al-Kālīfālā: malhamat al-šaʿb al-finlandī] (Beirut: Dār Dānāy, 1991).
- ^ Kalevala Latina: Carmen epicum nationis Finnorum in perpetuam memoriam anniversarii centesimi quinquagesimi, trans. by Tuomo Pekkanen, 2nd edn (Helsinki: Societas Kalevalensis, 1996) [first publ. 1986].
- ^ "R. Sivalingam – KALEVALA". Archived from the original on December 25, 2010. Retrieved August 19, 2010.
- ^ "Vepsän kul'turvoz': eloho läksi uz' "Kalevala" vepsän kelel". Omamedia - мультиязычный портал Карелии. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
- ^ "Калевалу" па-беларуску прэзентуюць 10 снежня