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Elise C. Otté
Scandinavian Scholar and Translator
Sept 30, 1818 — Dec 20, 1903
First English Translator of the Complete Poetic Edda
Assistant of Benjamin Thorpe
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Elise
Charlotte Otté
Dictionary of National
Biography, 1912 supplement
by Edmund Gosse
OTTÉ, ELISE
(1818–1903), scholar and historian, was born at Copenhagen
on 30 September 1818, of a Danish father and an English
mother. In 1820 her parents went to Santa Cruz, in the
Danish West Indies, where her father died. Her mother
returned to Copenhagen, where she met the English
philologist, Benjamin Thorpe [q. v.], while he was studying
Anglo-Saxon under Rask in Denmark, and married him. Elise
accompanied her mother and step-father to England. From her
step-father Elise Otté received an extraordinary education,
and at a very tender age knew so much Anglo-Saxon and
Icelandic as to be able to help Thorpe in his grammatical
work. His tyranny, however, became more than she could bear,
and in 1840 she went to Boston, U.S.A., to secure her
independence. Here her mind turned from grammar to science,
and she studied physiology at Harvard. Later on she
travelled much in Europe, and then resumed her life with her
step-father, whom she helped in his version of the 'Edda of
Sæmund.' But the bondage was again found intolerable, and in
1849 Elise Otté escaped to St. Andrews, where she worked at
scientific translations for the use of Dr. George Edward Day
[q. v.], Chandos professor of anatomy and medicine. In 1863
she went to reside with Day and his wife at Torquay, and in
1872, after Day's death, made London her home. Here, for
years, she carried on an active literary career, writing
largely for scientific periodicals. In 1874 she published a
'History of Scandinavia,' which is her most durable work;
she compiled grammars of Danish and of Swedish, and issued
translations of standard works by De Quatrefages, R. Pauli,
and others. Her translation of Pauli's 'Old England' (1861)
was dedicated to her step-father, Thorpe. Miss Otté was one
of the most learned women of her time, especially in
philology and physical science, but she never acquired ease
in literary expression. She lived wholly in the pursuit of
knowledge, even in extreme old age, when rendered inactive
and tortured by neuralgia. She died at Richmond on 20 Dec.
1903, in her eighty-sixth year.
[Personal knowledge;
Athenæum, 2 Jan. (by the present writer) and 16 Jan. (by
Miss Day), 1904.]
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Massachusetts Historical Society:
The Adams Papers
On microfilm, P-54, reel 340.
Diary of traveler and private tutor
Elise Charlotte Otte, kept from 13 - 27 July 1843. Entries
describe Otte's travels with John Quincy Adams and the
Joseph Grinnell family of New Bedford, Mass., through
northern New York and Quebec en route to Niagara Falls.
Along the journey Otte comments extensively on the history
and geography of the regions toured, in particular their
connections to events of the French and Indian War. Regions
visited in addition to Niagara Falls include Saratoga, Lake
George, Quebec, and Montreal.
Also included with the diary are two
letters written by Otte addressed to Charles Francis Adams,
asking him if he would be interested in adding her travel
journals to Adams's collection of family papers. Also, a
newspaper clipping taken from the London Athenaeum noting
Otte's death, as well as a letter to the editors in response
to factual errors in the piece.
The Adams Papers consist of
correspondence, letterbooks, diaries, literary manuscripts,
speeches, legal and business papers, and other materials,
largely of John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and Charles
Francis Adams.
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The Athenaeum:
A Journal of Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Music, and
Drama
January 2nd 1904
A REMARKABLE career came to a close on Sunday
evening, December 20th, in the death of Miss Elise C. Otté,
at Richmond, where she had long been living in great
seclusion. Although wholly unknown to the present
generation, Miss Otté had at one time taken an active part
in scientific and literary society. She was a Dane by birth,
having been born in Copenhagen about the year 1822. Her
mother, a widow, married Benjamin Thorpe, the well-known
philologist, while he was studying Anglo-Saxon under Rasmus
Rask in Denmark, and when the Thorpes came to England they
brought the little orphan with them.
From her stepfather Elise Otté received an
extraordinary education. Finding her linguistic capacities
unusual, he cultivated them to the height of their power,
not merely instructing her in all the modern lan guages
known to him, but also quite early grounding her in as much
as was then understood in England of Anglo-Saxon and
Icelandic. At a very tender age the child was able to help
Thorpe in his grammatical work, and in particular with his
translations. Benjamin Thorpe, however, was a pedant of the
narrowest description, and a captious taskmaster. His
demands upon his young stepdaughter's time and labour became
more than her patience could endure. Without informing her
parents, the girl contrived to secure employment in America,
and went out about 1840 to teach in a Boston family. Her
stay in the United States coincided with the Transcendental
Movement, and she became acquainted with Margaret Fuller,
whose intellectual pretensions she distrusted, and with
George Ripley, with whose German proclivities she had much
more sympathy. Miss Otté was invited to join the Brook Farm
experiment, but declined to do so, as her mind was now
turning from grammatical to scientific curiosity. She made
many friends at Harvard University, and attended lectures in
geology, physiology, and anatomy. After residing for some
time at New Bedford, circumstances obliged her to return to
Europe, and after travelling for several months she settled
at Frankfort, in the family of one of the scientific
professors there, whom she helped in the translation of
English monographs into German.
She then returned to London, intending to devote
herself to literary work, and she resumed her life with her
stepfather. Her gifts were again of material service to him;
she aided him in completing and preparing for the press his
translations from German and Scandinavian folk-tales, and
his version, from the Icelandic, of the poetical Edda of
Seemund, a version which was not completed until 1856. But,
once more, the bondage of life in Benjamin Thorpe’s library
proved intolerable, and Miss Otté, about 1849, joined George
Edward Day and his wife when the former was appointed
Chandos Professor of Anatomy at St. Andrews. Their household
in this university city was her home for many years, and she
worked at scientific translations for the members of the
faculty there, particularly for her special friends Edward
Forbes, John Goodsir, and Day. When Forbes was dead, and Day
and Goodsir had broken down in health, the St. Andrews
colony was dispersed. The Days withdrew in 1863 to Torquay,
taking Miss Otté with them, and she nursed the eminent
physician until a long and most painful illness terminated
in his death in 1872. From the results of her arduous
devotion Miss Otté never recovered; for the remainder of her
life she suffered from an agonizing form of spinal neuralgia
caused by the long strain of nursing.
Left alone in the world, Miss Otté now returned to
London, and for a few years carried on an active literary
career. She wrote largely for scientific periodicals, where
her remarkable knowledge of languages was serviceable. She
published, in 1874, a ‘History of Scandinavia,’ which is her
most durable work; she compiled grammars of Danish and of
Swedish, and issued translations of standard books by De
Quatrefuges, R. Pauli, and others. After a few years,
however, the recurrence of her malady closed all the avenues
of activity to her, and for nearly a quarter of a century
she had lived in complete retirement. The mere enumeration
of Miss Otté’s publications gives no idea of the
extraordinary wealth of her intellect, or of the prodigious
equipment of her memory. She was unquestionably one of the
most learned women of her time, especially in the
departments of philology and physical science.
Unfortunately, she never acquired any real ease in literary
expression, and it was always somewhat painful to her to
impart her knowledge in writing. Her conversation, in her
years of health, was, on the contrary, copious and
marvellously illuminating; her sympathy with all that was
modern, audacious, and liberal.
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The Sketch: A Journal of Art
and Actuality,
Vol. 44, Oct
1903—Jan 1904
MISS ELISE C. OTTE died at Richmond in
the end of the year at the advanced age of eighty-two. Though
she had lived in seclusion for many years, she had a remarkable
career and did much to make Scandinavian literature better known
in England. In a charming obituary sketch in the Athæneum, Mr.
Gosse informs us that Miss Otté was a Dane by birth, and that
her mother, a widow, married Benjamin Thorpe’, the well-known
philologist. From Thorpe Miss Otté received an extraordinary
education. He treated her tyrannically, however, making demands
on her time and labour which she found unendurable. Miss Otté
went to America and became acquainted with Margaret Fuller. She
was among those invited to join the Brook Farm experiment, but
she declined to do so and pursued her studies at Harvard
University. About 1849, she joined Professor Day and his wife at
St. Andrews, and there she worked at scientific translations for
some fourteen years. She removed with her friends to Torquay in
1863, and assisted Dr. Day till his death. Her arduous devotion
brought on a painful form of spinal neuralgia. Coming back to
London, Miss Otté published grammars, translations, a History of
Scandinavia, and other works. If I am not mistaken, she
contributed articles on Scandinavian subjects to some of the
literary periodicals. But, in spite of her English and varied
accomplishments, Miss Otté had no mastery of English style, and
it was not until Mr. Gosse got the ear of English readers by his
articles in the Spectator and elsewhere that Scandinavian
literature became a subject of study and of interest in this
country. Mr. Gosse, however, testifies that her conversation in
her years of health was copious and marvelously.
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Annual Register of World Events
1903
Deaths
On the 26th, aged 81, at Richmond, where she had
long been living in great seclusion, Elise C. Otte. Born in
Copenhagen; her mother subsequently married Benjamin Thorpe,
the philologist, who was much assisted in his work by his
step-daughter. In 1840, she went as a governess to the
United States, and resided at Boston, and had a large circle
of friends among the professors at Harvard. After her return
to England she again assisted Thorpe in his translation of
the Eddas, etc., but in 1849 joined Professor G. E. Day at
St. Andrews, and worked at scientific translations until
1863, when she accompanied the Days to Torquay and nursed
Dr. Day through a long illness, in which her own health
broke down; she was the author of a History of Scandinavia
(1874).
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Opinions of Women on Women's
Suffrage
Issued by the Central Committee of the
National Society for Women’s Suffrage, 1879
Miss Otte (Author of "Scandinavian History," &c).
It is often argued that women generally do not wish
to acquire the right of electoral suffrage, and that if it
were extended to them the majority of those who might claim
it would regard its obligations as burdensome and
distasteful, and would either evade them altogether, or
fulfil them with reluctance and indifference, or with
inconsistency and caprice. Such an argument can, however,
have no weight in a question like this, which is one of
right and not of sentiment. Similar charges of
disinclination and inefficiency for the discharge of
electoral duties might possibly apply with equal force to
numerous men; but no one would for a moment pretend that any
such individual contingencies could be advanced as reasons
why Englishmen should not retain their constitutional right
of having a voice in the election of those who legislate
upon the questions which most closely affect the interests
of each individual member of the community.
If women generally labour under the ignorance and
indifference imputed to them with regard to all that
concerns the conduct of public affairs, it would seem the
more imperative that they should be made participants with
men in the exercise of those electoral duties and privileges
to which Englishmen are wont to point as the basis of their
own claim to be regarded as patterns for other nations of
the enlightenment which springs from the free individual
exercise of political rights. If it be true that political
enlightenment comes with the power to exercise political
rights, women will have an important grievance to complain
of till they are in this respect put on an equality with
men. —Elise C. Otte.
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| Bibliography
Scandinavian History. London, Macmillan & Co., 1874.
Denmark and Iceland. London: S. Low,
Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1881.
A Simplified Grammar of the Swedish
Language. London: Trübner & Co., 1884.
A Simplified Grammar of the Danish
Language. London: Trübner & Co., 1884.
Norway, Sweden and Denmark. edited
by Edward Samuel Corwin.
Polar research by G.T. Surface.
Chicago : H.W. Snow, [c1910]
Translations
Views of Nature, or, Contemplations
on the Sublime Phenomena of Creation by Alexander von Humboldt.
with Henry G Bohn. London : H.G. Bohn, 1850.
Cosmos: A Sketch of a Physical
Description of the Universe by Alexander Von Humboldt. London:
H.G. Bohn, 1851
The Rambles of a Naturalist on the
Coasts of France, Spain, and Sicily by Jean Louis Armand de
Quatrefages de Bréau. London : Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans,
& Roberts, 1857.
Pictures of Old England by Reinhold
Pauli. Cambridge, London, Macmillan and Co., 1861.
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