“A Spiritual Colossus of Northern Europe”
Georg Sigurd Wettenhovi-Aspa (Wetterhoff-Asp, 1870–1946) was a Finnish sculptor, painter, writer, amateur linguist and friend of August Strindberg, Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Jean Sibelius. He was probably best known as the father of “Fenno-Egyptology,” a theory of the Finnish-Egyptian origin of all major European languages.
Wettenhovi-Aspa’s theories and works were ridiculed by most of his contemporaries, but the genius himself wasn’t discouraged:“And why should a giant pine fear goblins and trolls that wish to gnaw away its roots? Why should the winds frighten it? It listens to their voices and to the secret music of their songs and encloses them in its innermost soul. Thus it grows firmer and firmer.” – Preface to The Diamondking of Sahara
I created the first Wettenhovi-Aspa page on the Web as an alternative project while writing my master’s thesis in July 1997. I am also an avid collector of Wettenhovi-Aspa’s books.