Children Regin Dahl | Name Jakup Dahl | |
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Born 5 June 1878 Vagur, Faroe Islands Died 5 June 1944(1944-06-05) (aged 66)
Torshavn, Faroe Islands | ||
Jakup Dahl (English and German Jacob Dahl) (5 June 1878 – 1944) was a Faroese Provost and Bible translator. In 1908 he became known as a linguist with the first Faroese grammar lessons for school students.
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Life and work
Dahl was born on 5 June 1878 in Vagur on the island of Suðuroy in the Faroe Islands. He was the son of the merchant Peter Hans Dahl and Elisabeth Susanna Vilhelm.
Dahl was a classmate of Janus Djurhuus at the high school in Torshavn, the capital of the Faroes. Djurhuus described Dahl’s delivery of the nationalist hymn Nu er tann stundin komin til handa by Joannes Patursson as his "linguistic baptism". While he was affiliated with Patursson's Party Sjalvstyrisflokkurin (Self-Government Party or Separatist Party), Jacob Dahl became famous during the Faroese language conflict, when he refused, as a teacher in Torshavn 1909, to continue to teach in Danish. This matter back then was elevated to the Copenhagen ministry of instruction. One of his former students was William Heinesen, who reminisced about the time when Dahl still forced his students to use Danish.
In 1917 Dahl was elected Provost of the Faroes. In 1921 he published his translation of the Book of Psalms. The New Testament was published in 1937. Subsequently he started the translation of the Old Testament, but was unable to finish it prior to his death in 1944. This task was then taken over by Kristian Osvald Videro, to enable the Danske Folkekirke Church of Denmark (which immediately authorized Dahl’s translations) to finally present a Bible translation in Faroese language in 1961. Besides the Bible translation, Dahl also supplied a transliteration of the Catechism, a Bible story and a compilation of Faroese sermons for Layman Worships in remote villages. In addition Jakup Dahl translated dozens of church songs, including some by Martin Luther into his native language.
A Bible translation by Victor Danielsen already existed in 1948, but he based his on modern European editions, unlike Dahl’s translations from the older editions.
Jakup Dahl’s son Regin Dahl (1918-2007) is an important Faroese poet and composer.