Olof Rudbeck the elder (1630-1702), a true polymath of the time before academic specialisation, uses numerous disciplines in his magnum opus the Atlantica, where he argues that the North is the cradle of civilisation. In the first volume of the Atlantica, the study of language is particularly central. Here Rudbeck argues that Swedish is a seminal language for European and Mediterranean languages and cultures. Apart from the famous - even infamous - etymologies of theonyms, which connect the Graeco-Roman pantheon to the Norse, Rudbeck explores the concept of language change through the comparison of sets of words in a variety of languages, which leads to suggestions of particularly common ‘routes’ of language change. Comparison also plays an important role in his method of postulating a classification of the languages of Europe.

This paper explores Rudbeck’s theories of language and his methods of analysis. Although Rudbeck’s arguments relating to language are part of the same protonationalist ideology as the rest of the Atlantica, his analysis of language provides a clear picture of a changing and evolving discipline, and gives intriguing insights into the use of comparison in early modern linguistics.