Ólafur Davíðsson

Ólafur Davíðsson, was an Icelandic natural scientist, ethnographer and folklore collector.

Biography

Ólafur Davíðsson 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.
Ólafur studied natural sciences at the University of Copenhagen but then immediately turned to ethnology, working at the Arnamagnæan Institute.
In 1897, Ólafur 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, 1–4, Kaupmannahöfn, Bókmenntafélagið, 1887-1903Galdur og galdramál á Íslandi, 1–3, Reykjavík, Sögufélag, 1941-1943Ég læt allt fjúka: sendibréf og dagbókarbrot frá skólaárunum, Reykjavík, Ísafoldarprentsmiðja, 1955Íslenskar þjóðsögur, 1–4, Reykjavík, Þjóðsaga, 1978-1980

Hundakæti: Dagbækur Ólafs Davíðssonar 1881-1884.. Reykjavík, Mál & menning, 2018