Naddodd

Naddodd, sometimes rendered Naðdr or Naddod, is a figure in medieval Norse sagas credited with the discovery of Iceland. According to Icelandic chronicles, he was a Norse explorer who sailed west from Norway and was blown off course, landing on a land he reportedly found to be cold and icy around 860 CE.

He named the land Snæland or Snowland, in reference to its wintry shores, before returning home and telling of a new land across the sea. The story of Naddodd is part of a larger tradition describing the early exploration of Iceland and the eventual Norse settlement that followed.

Naddodd’s discovery is depicted as a prelude to the Icelandic settlement era. A later navigator, Gardar Svavarsson, is said to have circumnavigated the island and confirmed that it was indeed an island, while Ingólfur Arnarson established the first permanent Norse settlement at Reykjavík around 874 CE. The events are preserved in the Landnámabók and other sagas, which mix myth and historical memory, and precise dates and details vary across sources.

In modern scholarship, Naddodd is regarded as a semi-legendary figure whose story reflects early Norse exploration narratives rather than undisputed documentary evidence. He occupies a place in Icelandic tradition as the earliest named discoverer associated with the island prior to its sustained settlement.