Eggert Ólafsson (1 December 1726 – 30 May 1768) was an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic explorer, writer and conservator of the

Icelandic language Icelandic (; is, íslenska, link=no ) is a North Germanic language The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic lan ...

. He also worked to revive the Icelandic culture and economy.

Background

He was the son of a farmer from Svefneyjar in

Breiðafjörður Breiðafjörður (, ''wide fjord'') is a large shallow bay, about 50 km wide and 125 km long, in the west of Iceland. It separates the region of the Westfjords (Vestfirðir) from the Snæfellsnes peninsula to the south. Breiðafjörðu ...

. He studied natural sciences, Classics,

Grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...

, Law, and Agriculture at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

. He obtained a bachelor's degree from the University of Copenhagen. In 1772 he posthumously published ''Reise igiennem Island'' (Travels in Iceland), an account of the scientific and cultural survey he conducted between 1752 and 1757. The book remains a seminal work on Iceland and its people. Eggert wrote on a wide range of topics. His writing has made him known for his pro-conservation stance on the Icelandic language, which has undergone significant change since the 18th century. Eggert was a devout patriot, and his literary works, chiefly his poems, burn with this fervor. He used his writings to stir up patriotism, which he felt were waning. He hoped to revive Icelandic culturally and politically, so that it would rise once again to its former glory. He went on a research trip around

with Bjarni Pálsson (who later became Iceland's Director of Health) between 1752 and 1757. During this trip, they visited a great number of Icelandic natural sites and proposed geographical and infrastructural improvements to the regions they visited. Eggert and his wife, Ingibjörg Halldórsdóttir, drowned in 1768 when going back home from a winter sojourn i
Sauðlauksdalur
Their boat capsized in Breiðafjörður off the north-west coast of Iceland. Matthías Jochumsson wrote a commemorative poem titled "Eggert Ólafsson" in his honour. Icelandic romantic poet Jónas Hallgrímsson also wrote a poem for Ólafsson; entitled "Hulduljóð", it was never finished. According to the historian Guðmundur Hálfdanarson, Eggert "is often regarded as the precursor of Icelandic nationalism."

References

External links

The poem "Eggert Ólafsson" by Matthías Jochumsson

The poem "Hestasæla" by Eggert Ólafsson with links to other poems by him
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eggert Olafsson 1726 births 1768 deaths Icelandic explorers Icelandic writers 18th-century Icelandic people

Background

References

Further reading

External links