Olafur Davidsson Explained

Olafur Davidsson (26 January 1862 – 6 September 1903), Icelandic: Ólafur Davíðsson, was an Icelandic natural scientist, ethnographer and folklore collector.^[1]

Biography

Davidsson was born on 26 January 1862 at Fell in Sléttuhlíð. He was a student at The Learned School in Reykjavík from 1874 to 1882 and kept a diary of his last year of study there.

Davidsson studied natural sciences at the University of Copenhagen but then immediately turned to ethnology, working at the Arnamagnæan Institute.

In 1897, Davidsson returned to Iceland and was a part-time teacher at Möðruvellir in Hörgárdal, where he also engaged in folklore collecting and other scholarly work. Ólafur drowned in Hörgá, single and childless, on 6 September 1903.

Works

• Íslenskar gátur, skemtanir, vikivakar og þulur: safnað hafa J. Árnason og Ó. Davíðsson ("Icelandic Riddles, Entertainment, Weekends and Rhymes: collected by J Arnason and O. Davidsson"), 1–4, Kaupmannahöfn, Bókmenntafélagið, 1887-1903
• Galdur og galdramál á Íslandi ("Magic and Sorcery in Iceland"), 1–3, Reykjavík, Sögufélag, 1941-1943
• Ég læt allt fjúka: sendibréf og dagbókarbrot frá skólaárunum ("I let Everything Blow: Letters and Diary Extracts from the School Years"), Reykjavík, Ísafoldarprentsmiðja, 1955
• Íslenskar þjóðsögur, 1–4, Reykjavík, Þjóðsaga, 1978-1980
• Hundakæti: Dagbækur Ólafs Davíðssonar 1881-1884. ("Hundakaeti: the Diaries of Olaf Davidsson, 1881-1884"). Reykjavík, Mál & menning, 2018

External links

• Grímseyjarför, comedy letter by Olafur Davidsson written 8.8.1898, published in Lesbók Morgunblaðsins, 23rd Issue, (08.06.1941), p. 193

Notes and References

1. Book: Classen, Albrecht . Travel, Time, and Space in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Time: Explorations of World Perceptions and Processes of Identity Formation . 2018-10-22 . Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG . 978-3-11-061096-3.