Tómas Sæmundsson

Who was Tómas Sæmundsson?

Tómas Sæmundsson 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".

Tómas is quoted by J. R. R. Tolkien as saying, "Mбlin eru hцfuрeinkenni юjурanna ..."

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 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.