Mythologia Fennica

Mythologia Fennica (lit. 'Finnish Mythology') is a 1789 book on Finnish mythology written in Swedish by Kristfrid Ganander, a Finnish priest.

Mythologia Fennica contains 430 entries in alphabetical order from "AARNI" to "YRJÄNÄ". Entries cover Finnish mythology, folk poetry, spells, Sámi mythology, and the Norse gods.^[1]

The work influenced Elias Lönnrot, compiler of the epic Kalevala; as a result, Ganander has been later perceived as a kind of "Lönnrot before Lönnrot."^[2]

Mythologia Fennica was intended as an appendix to a Swedish-Finnish dictionary which was left unfinished by Ganander.^[3] It was created with the encouragement and assistance of Henrik Gabriel Porthan, the father of Finnish historical research. It was completed in 1789 but only published 4 years later, following Porthan's review.

A German translation was made by the Estonian poet Kristjan Jaak Peterson in 1821.^[4]

The book has been reprinted numerous times, especially towards the end of the 20th century.

• Ganander, Christfrid (1789), Mythologia Fennica: eller, Förklaring öfver de nomina propria deastrorum, idolorum, locorum, virorum, &c ... (in Swedish), Tryckt i Frenckellska Boktryckeriet , e-text via www.gutenberg.org

• Ganander, Christfrid (1821), Peterson, Christian Jaak (ed.), Christfrid Ganander Thomasson's Finnische Mythologie (in German) [translation]

• Ganander, Kristfrid (1995), Pentikäinen, Juha (ed.), Mythologia Fennica (in Finnish), [Klaukkala]: Recallmed, ISBN 9519221727 [translation]