Name Jon of Died 1779 | Role Author | |
Jon Olafsson of Grunnavik (Jon Olafsson fra Grunnavik, also known as Jon Grunnvikingur or Grunnavikur-Jon, 1705 – 1779) was an Icelandic scholar. Originally from Grunnavik, Westfjords, northwestern Iceland, he was active in Copenhagen, where he served as assistant to Arni Magnusson.
He is the author of an Icelandic dictionary and a 1732 Runologia, a treatise on runology. As in the fire of Copenhagen of 1728, the original manuscript of the Heiðarviga saga was lost along with a recent copy made by Jon Grunnvikingur, he wrote down a summary of the saga from memory, which is the only form in which the saga's contents survive today.
The character of Jon Grindvicensis in Halldor Laxness's historical novel Iceland's Bell is based on Jon Grunnvikingur.