Venceslaus Ulricus Hammershaimb

Venceslaus Ulricus Hammershaimb (1819 – 1909) established the modern orthography of Faroese, the language of the Faroe Islands, in 1854. He was born in Sandavágur on the island of Vagar. He was a Parish priest in Kvívík and a Rural Dean in Nes, Eysturoy before he settled in Denmark in 1878. The orthography he created was consistent with having a continuous written tradition to the Old Norse language from which it originates, rather than creating a phonetically true orthography (as in Welsh.) For example, the letter Ð has no phonemes attached to it.

In addition to his contributions to the written standard of Faroese, he was also a known folklorist.