Tómas Sæmundsson

Tómas Sæmundsson

Portrait engraving of Tómas Sæmundsson

Portrait engraving of Tómas Sæmundsson
Born June 7, 1807 (1807-06-07)
Died May 17, 1841 (1841-05-18) (aged 33)
Occupation Icelandic priest, author and nationalist
This is an Icelandic name. The last name is a patronymic, not a family name; this person is properly referred to by the given name Tómas.

Tómas Sæmundsson (Jun 7 1807 – May 17, 1841) was an Icelandic 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 fervant nationalists".[1]

Tómas is quoted by J. R. R. Tolkien as saying, "Málin eru höfuðeínkenni þjóðanna..."

Languages are the chief distinguishing marks of peoples. No people in fact comes into being until it speaks a language of its own; let the languages perish and the peoples perish too, or become different peoples. But that never happens except as the result of oppression and distress.

Tómas Sæmundsson.[2]

Tómas travelled around Europe in the years 1832–1834 and was pastor in Breiðabólsstaður in Fljótshlíð from 1835. Amongst other things, Tómas wrote the 5th annual issue of the journal Fjölnir.

External links

References

  1. Daisy Neijmann (2006). A history of Icelandic literature. U of Nebraska Press. p. 257. ISBN 978-0-8032-3346-1. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  2. O'Donnell lecture, Oxford, 1955, retrieved 1 May 2014


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, October 29, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.