Jón Ólafsson from Grunnavík and the Icelandic language purism in the first half of the 18th century: A wordlist in ms. AM 1013 4to (fol. 37v)

Abstract

This article examines aspects of Icelandic linguistic purism in the early 18th century, as revealed in a wordlist compiled by Jón Ólafsson from Grunnavík (1705–1779) and preserved in ms. AM 1013 4to (fol. 37v). After a brief introduction (§ 1), there follows an overview of the development of Icelandic language purism from its late-sixteenth-century origins to the first half of the 18th century (§ 2). The description of Jón Ólafsson’s life which follows (§ 3) highlights his genealogical links with Arngrímur Jónsson the learned (1568–1648), a pioneering figure in the purism movement. The next section (§ 4) explores the wordlist itself and is divided into three subsections. The first (§ 4.1) summarises Jón’s linguistic scholarship as a whole. The second (§ 4.2) presents a diplomatic edition of the list and an analysis of eight of its word pairs, which have been chosen for their relevance with respect to their formation and ideological background. The analytical approach adopted describes the words as single lexical units in accordance with the main tenets of loanword studies, and examines the list in the light of language policy and planning studies. The final subsection (§ 4.3) highlights the relationship between the wordlist and Jón Ólafsson’s most important work, i.e. the Icelandic dictionary (AM 433 fol.). The last section (§ 5) summarises the main points of the article and sets them within the context of pre-1750 Icelandic language purism. It will be argued that Jón Ólafsson’s work is of paramount importance in the development of Icelandic purist attitudes, both lexically, because of its close relationship with the principles set out by Arngrímur Jónsson in his Crymogæa, and in terms of the later history of the movement.