Henry Merrivale

Identifying a Dane

Identifying a Dane [Apologies. This post is in English as I know no Danish. Hope it's easier to understand than a machine translation]. I need help identifying a Dane who is the subject of articles in several Russian encyclopedias (late 19 - early 20 century). All the articles say roughly the following: "Olasfen (sic!) — XVIII century Danish agronomist, studied Islandic agriculture practices. Published «Livre d’agriculture» (1783) and «Traité des plantes potagères de l’Island» (1774)." Yes, for whatever reason, the titles are in French! I need a minimum of information to create a wikidata item for him: correct name, dates of birth and death, etc. Thank you, Henry Merrivale (diskussion) 9. jul 2021, 13:17 (CEST).

I guess it is Eggert Olafsson. Mr Olafsson was born in Iceland (then under the Danish crown) on 1 December 1726 and studied in Copenhagen. He moved back to Iceland where he died 30 May 1768 (drowned). --Pugilist (diskussion) 9. jul 2021, 13:45 (CEST)

Does not look like it, thogh. Britannica (and other sources) does not mention him being an agronomist, worldcat doesn't have, among his works, anything similar to the titles mentioned, and both titles would then need to be posthumous (which is unlikely for books on agronomy). Thank you! Henry Merrivale (diskussion)

I do not have access to the Russian encyclopedias, so it is difficult to cross check. But given that Mr Eggert Olafsson had a considerable production of works related to plants, birds, population and the nature of Iceland, I am fairly convinced that it is him. One of his main works seem to be the posthumous Lachanologia Islandica (1774) which may very likely have been translated into «Traité des plantes potagères de l’Island». Like anyone else at that time he was active in many fields. --Pugilist (diskussion) 9. jul 2021, 14:45 (CEST)

Den norske præst Olaf Olafsen var forfatter og skrev også om landbrug. The Norwegian priest Olaf Olafsen was an author and also wrote about agriculture.

Født/born 3. september 1843. http://runeberg.org/salmonsen/2/18/0469.html

Eggert Olafsson et al.: http://runeberg.org/salmonsen/2/18/0470.html ff./seqq. ~ --Hans Christophersen (diskussion) 9. jul 2021, 17:33 (CEST)

Olaf Olafsen gjorde dog mest i frugtplantager og lokalhistorie omkring Hardanger og ikke så meget egentlig landbrug.--Hjart (diskussion) 9. jul 2021, 17:50 (CEST)

de:Eggert_Ólafsson describes Eggert as being quite happy about icelandic farming. --Hjart (diskussion) 9. jul 2021, 22:56 (CEST)

Thank you all very much! The most likely person seems to be Ólafur Ólafsson (Ólafur Olavius) (1741-1788) (Salmonsens, page 444). National library of Iceland credits him with a few books on agriculture, in particular Islendsk Urtagards Bok (Book on Iceland´s vegetables), which seems to be almost exact match. Unfortunately, article in Russian encyclopedia doesn't have more information to make sure of identification. Henry Merrivale (diskussion) 10. jul 2021, 02:54 (CEST).