Tómas Sæmundsson (7 June 1807 – 17 May 1841) was an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic priest, and one of the '' Fjölnismenn'', a group of Icelandic intellectuals who spearheaded the revival of Icelandic national consciousness and gave rise to the Icelandic Independence Movement. According to author Daisy Neijmann, he was "one of the era's most fervent nationalists". Tómas is quoted by

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

as saying "''Málin eru höfuðeínkenni þjóðanna...''" (Languages are the chief distinguishing marks of peoples ...): Tómas travelled around Europe from 1832 to 1834, and he became the pastor in Breiðabólsstaður in Fljótshlíð in 1835. Among other things, Tómas wrote the fifth annual issue of the journal ''

Fjölnir Fjölnir ( ) is a List of legendary kings of Sweden, legendary king in Norse mythology said to have been the son of Freyr (Frey) and his consort Gerðr (Gertha). The name appears in a variety of forms, including Fiolnir, Fjölner, Fjolner, and F ...

''.

References

External links

''Tómas Sæmundsson''; grein í Lesbók Morgunblaðsins 1941''Tómas Sæmundsson''; minningargrein í Fjölni 1843
Saemundsson, Tomas Saemundsson, Tomas Icelandic Christian clergy 19th-century Icelandic writers Icelandic independence activists {{iceland-writer-stub