In 2014, my husband won a Fullbright to go and study linguistics at the University of Oslo. By that time, he was already a well-regarded philosopher. But he was having a disagreement with Noam Chomsky about—something. And so he wanted to discuss his ideas with the philosophers and linguists there.
And so we packed our bags and headed off to Oslo for the academic year 2014-2015. As he was going to be at the Blindern campus, the university provided us with a very comfortable flat on Duehaugveien (Dove Hill Road) in Blindern, a suburb just to the north of downtown Oslo.
While he worked, I walked. We didn’t need a car because public transportation was so marvelous. I walked along the Aker river, visiting its source in Maridalsvannet (Lake Maridal).
And I took the train up, up and up and around its hairpin bends to the hills above Oslo, with magnificent views of Oslo fjord.
One charming thing I discovered about Norwegian culture is that they have statues of women. (There is one outside the Norwegian Embassy in Washington DC that depicts Crown Princess Märtha of Norway, who lived in there during the Second World War.) And so when I happened upon Bogstad Gård, I saw this wonderful sculpture of three sisters ~ Lucy, Mimi and Karen, who saved the family home from destruction, turning it into a museum.
Which brings me to my Digression of the Day. As an English-speaking person, I am not thrilled that my last name is Haggard. It really isn’t flattering. However, Haggard might be a Danish name, which could be translated as Hawk’s Nest.
Gard (or Gård) is related to the word garden. And so it is variously translated as garden, yard, nest. In the case of Bogstad Gård, that is usually translated as Bogstad Farm or Bogstad Manor. Although Gard seems to be an extremely flexible word, all of its translations suggest a enclosed space, that is—if not exactly welcoming to strangers—at least is not downright hostile. For it doesn’t suggest a stockade, wall, or moat. Or any kind of device to keep people out.
From that point of view, my Hawk’s Nest of a name doesn’t sound so bad.