Rit (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.06.1936, Síða 10

10
Wadell in 1919(4) and called by him Svíagígur, though
measurements taken later showed that it lies some-
what to the west and north of where Wadell places it
on his map. On my way over the Jökull at the end of
June and beginning of July 1985 I traversed in fine
weather the region where Wadell’s ”Svíagígur“ ought
to be according to his map, but there was no sign of a
”gígur“ (crater) there. As there seems to be an over-
whelming likelihood of this being the so-called Gríms-
vötn, which are mentioned so often in Icelandic author-
ities, it seemed proper to give that name to the scene of
the eruption in the accompanying map.
The name Grímsvötn is first mentioned in authorities,
so far as we know, in a letter which Ólafur Einarsson,
the rector of Skálholt school, wrote from Skálholt to
Þórður Björnsson in Copenhagen (6). Ólafur Einars-
son is said to have been in Skálholt from 1598 to 1608
(7). Thoroddsen is strongly inclined to believe that the
eruption, which is mentioned among other things in the
letter, occurred in 1598 and was identical with the erup-
tion mentioned by the Skarðsár chronicle as having tak-
en place in this year (8). The letter says nothing about
the s.tuation of Grímsvötn save that they lie to the east
of Hekla. ”Situs enim harum aquarum est orientali par-
te montis ignivomi Heclæ“.
The Fitjar chronicle says that in the winter of the year
1685 there was during the winter ”fire up in the Jökull to
the east, or in Grímsvötn".1) Then it says that a jökul-
hlaup (glacier-burst) occurred in Skeiðará and Jökulsá in
Axarfjörður. The same chronicle mentions an eruption
in Grímsvötn in 1706, and this Grímsvötn eruption is
also mentioned in the Purkey chronicle (10). The Fitjar
chronicle again says that in the year 1716 there was
”fire up in the glacier to the east, or Grímsvötn, and it
continued far into the autumn“.2)
1) Eldur verið uppi í austurjöklum eður Grímsvötnum. (9).
2) Eldur verið uppi 1 austurjöklum eður Grímsvötnum, og lengi
íram eftir haustinu.