Ingvar Kamprad

Ingvar Feodor Kamprad ( pronunciation ; born 30 March 1926) is a Swedish business magnate. He is the founder of IKEA, a Swedish retail company specialising in furniture.

Early life

Kamprad was born in Pjätteryd (now part of Älmhult Municipality), Sweden. He was raised on a farm called Elmtaryd (presently standardized Älmtaryd) near the small village of Agunnaryd in Ljungby Municipality in the province of Småland. His paternal grandfather was from Germany, but moved the family to Sweden.

Career

Kamprad began to develop a business as a young boy, selling matches to neighbors from his bicycle. He found that he could buy matches in bulk very cheaply from Stockholm, sell them individually at a low price, and still make a good profit. From matches, he expanded to selling fish, Christmas tree decorations, seeds, and later ballpoint pens and pencils. When Kamprad was 17, his father gave him a cash reward for succeeding in his studies.

IKEA was founded in 1943 at Kamprad's uncle Ernst's kitchen table. In 1948, Kamprad diversified his portfolio, adding furniture. His business was mostly mail-order. The acronym IKEA is made up of the initials of his name (Ingvar Kamprad) plus those of Elmtaryd, the family farm where he was born, and the nearby village Agunnaryd.

Ingvar

Yngvar Harra (or Ingvar) Proto-Norse *Ingu-Hariz (d. early 7th century) was the son of Östen and reclaimed the Swedish throne for the House of Yngling after the Swedes had rebelled against Sölvi.

Snorri Sturluson relates in his Ynglinga saga that King Ingvar, Östen's son, was a great warrior who often spent time patrolling the shores of his kingdom fighting Danes and Estonian vikings (Víkingr frá Esthland). King Ingvar finally came to a peace agreement with the Danes and could take care of the Estonian vikings.

He consequently started pillaging in Estonia in retribution, and one summer he arrived at a place called Stein (see also Sveigder). The Estonians (sýslu kind) assembled a great army in the interior and attacked King Ingvar in a great battle. The Estonian forces were too powerful and Ingvar fell and the Swedish forces retreated. Ingvar was buried in a mound at a place called Stone or Hill fort (at Steini) on the shores of Estonia (Aðalsýsla).

Snorri then quotes a stanza from Þjóðólfr of Hvinir's Ynglingatal:

Ingvar (name)

The name Ingvar is an Norse first name for males, common in Scandinavia, meaning protected by Ing (i.e. Freyr). Many notable Scandinavians have had this name, for example Ingvar Kamprad, and the legendary Swedish king Ingvar.

The feminine version is Inga.

The first element of the name is derived from Proto-Norse *Ing(w)ia (Ingi-), i.e. Yngvi, which was the original name of the god Freyr. The second element is probably either *Harjaz (warrior) or *Warjaz (defender). The name consequently either meant Freyr's warrior or Freyr's defender.

Igor (ukr. Ihor, bel. Ihar) is a given name derived from the Scandinavian name Ingvar, that was brought to ancient Ruthenia by the Vikings (Ingvar or Yngvar). Igor (Rurik's son) conquered Kiev. Old English sources suggest that the birthname of Ivar the Boneless might have been Ingvar, he is referred to as Hyngvar, Hingvar and Inguar in the English annals.