List of Kalevala translations


A list of translations of the Finnish national epic Kalevala in chronological order by language. The epic has appeared in 61 translated languages.
Based partially on the list made by Rauni Puranen and the article .
LanguageYearTranslatorRemark
German1840N. MühlbergThe first 60 lines of the first song, published in: Verhandlungen der gelehrten Esthnischen Gesellschaft zu Dorpat. Ersten Bandes erstes Heft. 1840, 94-96.
German1848Jacob GrimmA short 38 line reading at a presentation in the Berlin Academy of Sciences.
German1852Franz Anton SchiefnerA very important translation used by many other translators to bring Kalevala to their own language.
German1885–1886H. Paul
German1967Lore Fromm, Hans FrommFull translation directly from Finnish.
German2004Gisbert JänickeFull translation.
Swedish1841M. A. CastrénFull translation of the 1835 Old Kalevala.
Swedish1864–1868Karl CollanFull translation of the 1849 Kalevala.
Swedish1884Rafaël Hertzberg
Swedish1944Olaf HoménAn abridged edition
Swedish1948Björn Collinder
Swedish1999Lars Huldén and Mats Huldén
French1845 and 1867Louis Léouzon le DucAn important translation used by many other translators to bring Kalevala to their own language.
French1926Charles GuyotAbridged version of Louis Léouzon le Duc's translation.
French1927Jean Louis PerretFull translation in metric verse.
French1991Gabriel RebourcetFull translation. In old style French vocabulary.
English1868John Addison PorterPartial translation via Franz Anton Schiefner's translation.
English1869Edward Taylor FletcherPartial translation directly from Finnish.
English1888John Martin CrawfordFull translation, via Franz Anton Schiefner's translation.
English1893R. EivindA complete prose adaptation for children via Crawford's translation.
English1907William Forsell KirbySecond full translation. Directly from Finnish. Imitates the Kalevala meter.
English1950Aili Kolehmainen JohnsonAbridged prose translation.
English1954Margaret SperryAdapted verse translation of song 50.
English1963Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr.Scholarly prose translation. Included with detailed essays and background information.
English1969Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr.Scholarly prose translation of the 1835 Old Kalevala.
English1977Ursula SyngeAbridged prose version. Using W. F. Kirby's translation as a reference.
English1989Eino FribergEditing 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. Released to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the original publication.
English1989Keith BosleyUses 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.
Hungarian1871Ferdinánd BarnaFull translation via Franz Anton Schiefner's translation.
Hungarian1909Béla Vikár
Hungarian1971Kálmán Nagy
Hungarian1976István Rácz
Hungarian1985Antal RegulyOld Kalevala songs 1-3 and 29.
Hungarian1987Imre Szente
Russian1888Leonid Petrovic BelskyAn important translation used by many other Slavic translators to bring Kalevala to their own language.
Russian1998 & 2006Eino Kiuru and Armas Hiiri
Estonian1891–1898M. J. Eisen
Estonian1938August Annist
Czech1894–1895J. HolečekFull translation in metric verse.
Ukrainian1901Jevhen Tymčenko
Danish1902Ferdinand OhrtPartial translation.
Danish1994Hilkka and Bent Søndergaard
Italian1909Igino CocchiVerse translation
Italian1910Paolo Emilio PavoliniVerse translation
Italian1912Francesco Di Silvestri FalconieriProse translation
Italian1980Liliana CalimeriUsed Ursula Synge's version as a model.
Italian1988Gabriella Agrati and Maria Letizia MaginiProse translation
Italian2007Marcello GanassiniVerse translation
Lithuanian1922Adolfas Sabaliauskas
Lithuanian1972Justinas Marcinkevičius
Latvian1924Linards Laicens
Latvian1965?Uses trochaic tetrameter and syllable stress rhythm.
Dutch1928Maya TamminenPartial prose translation.
Dutch1940Jan H. Eekhout.An excerpt in poetic form.
Dutch1969Jr. Henrik HartwijkTranslation of song #5. Published in the Yearbook of the Kalevala Society.
Dutch1985Mies le NobelUtilised German as well as English translations in her translation process.
Serbian1935Ivan S. Šajković
Japanese1937Kakutan Morimoto
Japanese1961Tsutomu Kuwaki
Japanese1976Tamotsu Koizumi
Spanish1944Alejandro CasonaAbridged prose translation, based on Charles Guyot's version.
Spanish1953María Dolores ArroyoFull metric verse translation via Perret's French and Pavolini's Italian translations
Spanish1967Juan B. BerguaFull prose translation, via French and English translations
Spanish1985Ursula Ojanen and Joaquín FernándezFull translation directly from Finnish.
Spanish1995Carmen CrouzeillesAbridged prose translation. Published in Buenos Aires.
Romanian1946Barbu B. Brezianu'sFull prose translation.
Romanian1959Iulian VesperFull translation using an eight syllable verse form.
Romanian1985P. StarostinPublished in Moldovan which is identical to Romanian. Abridged translation.
Hebrew1954Saul Tschernichovsky
Hebrew1978Sarah Tubia
Yiddish1954Hersh Rosenfeld
Belarusian1956M. MašapaProse and poetry excerpts.
Icelandic1957 & 1962Karl ÍsfeldThis translation utilises the Icelandic "three-par" alliteration method.
Chinese1962Shih HêngTranslated via the Russian translation.
Chinese1981Sun YongTranslated via W.F.Kirby's English translation.
Chinese2000Zhang Hua Wen
Esperanto1964Johan Edvard LeppäkoskiFull translation in Kalevala meter, published as trochaic octometers with mandatory central caesura
Turkish1965Hilmi Ziya ÜlkenTranslation of the first 2 songs. Using the Hungarian and French as basis. Published in the Yearbook of the Kalevala Society, volume 43
Turkish1982Lale and Muammar OğuzFull interpreted prose translation. Missing 25% of the original content for artistic purposes.
Norwegian1967Albert Lange FlifletNynorsk language translation. Based on an earlier unpublished translation.
Georgian1969M. Macavarian, Š. Tšantladze & G. Dzneladze.
Arabic1970Muhamed Said al-JuneidAbridged translation published in the yearbook of the Kalevala Society.
Arabic1991Sahban Ahmad Mroueh
Armenian1972A. Siras. ProosaaAbridged prose translation.
Polish1974Józef Ozga-MichalskiFull translation based on the work of Karol Laszecki.
Polish1998Jerzy LitwiniukFull translation
Komi1980 & 1984Adolf TurkinPartial translation
Fulani1983Alpha A. DialloBook was published in Hungary, illustrated with Akseli Gallen-Kallela's artwork.
Tulu1985Amrith SomeshwarUsed Keith Bosley's Wanton Loverboy to aid in the translation of some parts.
Latin1986Tuomo Pekkanen
Vietnamese1986Cao Xuân NghiêpFull prose translation.
Vietnamese1991Hoàng Thái AnhFull prose translation.
Vietnamese1994Búi Viêt Hòa'sFull translation in metrical verse.
Slovak1986Marek Svetlik & Jan Petr Velkoborský.
Hindi1990 & 1997Vishnu Khare
Slovene1991Jelka Ovaska NovakPartial translation.
Slovene1997Jelka Ovaska NovakFull translation.
Swahili1992Jan KnappertIllustrated with Tanzanian Robino Ntila's graphics.
Bulgarian1992Nino Nikolov
Greek1992Maria MartzoukVerse translation of the first 20 poems with prose translation of the rest.
Faroese1993Jóhannes av Skarði
Tamil1994R. Sivalingam Full translation. Introduction by Asko Parpola.
Catalan1997Ramon Garriga i Marquès, Pirkko-Merja LounavaaraFull translation in metric verse, directly from Finnish.
Catalan1997Encarna Sant-Celoni i VergerAbridged prose translation.
Persian1998Mahmoud Amir Yar Ahmadi and Mercedeh Khadivar MohseniFull translation directly from Finnish.
Macedonian1998Vesna Acevska
Kannada2001Dr K R Sandhya ReddyFull translation from English.
Croatian2001Stjepan A. SzaboPartial translation in narrative form.
Croatian2006Slavko PelehFull translation using the German translation partially.
Low German2001Herbert Strehmel
Oriya2001Mahendra Kumar MishraProse translation.
Udmurt2001Anatoli UvarovSummary.
Veps2003Nina ZaicevaVerse summary.
Portuguese2007Orlando MoreiraFull translation from an English version.
Portuguese2009José Bizerril and Álvaro FaleirosPartial translation. Only the first song.
Portuguese2013Ana Soares & Merja de Mattos-ParreiraFull translation from Finnish; in verse; with critical introduction, and hundreds of footnotes.
Meänkieli2007Bengt PohjanenTranslation of a select four songs.
Urdu2012Arshad Farooq
Belarusian2015Yakub Lapatka
Livvi-Karelian2015Raisa Remšujeva
Karelian2015Zinaida Dubinina