Wormius, Olaus

Possibly the name of two people, or of one person whose dates were confused by H. P. Lovecraft.

Per Wikipedia, "Ole Worm (13 May 1588 – 31 August 1654), who often went by the Latinized form of his name Olaus Wormius, was a Danish physician, natural historian and antiquary. He was a professor at the University of Copenhagen where he taught Greek, Latin, Physics and Medicine" [Ole Worm, Wikipedia, 11/30/2020]. This Olaus Wormius also translated the funeral song "Regner Lodbrog's Epicedium" from Danish runes into Latin. Later, Hugh Blair (1718–1800) republished Wormius' Latin version, and his own translation of verses 2-7 into English prose, in the book A Critical Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian, the Son of Fingal (1763). Eventually, H. P. Lovecraft read Blair's book and translated the same set of verses into English poetry as "Regnar Lodbrug's Epicedium." [S. T. Joshi, Primal Sources: Essays on H. P. Lovecraft. New York: Hippocampus Press. First electronic edition, 2015.] (The online text of Lovecraft's rendering is here.)

Lovecraft mistakenly thought that Wormius lived much earlier than he did. Joshi cites a letter by Lovecraft to Maurice W. Moe, dated 17 December 1914: "In the Middle Ages Olaus Wormius made the rather incoherent Latin version [of 'Regnar Lodbrug's Epicedium'] which Blair uses." The Middle Ages are variously considered to have ended in 1350, 1450, or 1500, but these dates are all before Wormius' actual birth in 1588. Joshi argues that Lovecraft simply assumed that Wormius was from the same era as Saxo Grammaticus, whom Blair mentions as having flourished in the 13th Century.

Consistent with this belief, Lovecraft's "History of the Necronomicon" states that Olaus Wormius translated the Necronomicon from Greek into Latin in 1228 A.D., and that the Latin version was banned by Pope Gregory IX a few years later, in 1232 [History (online text)]. This date is consistent with the actual pontificate of Gregory IX (1227–1241).

To partially reconcile Lovecraft's accounts with history, you could assume any of the following:

The Necronomicon was translated into Latin in 1228 A.D. by an earlier "Olaus Wormius." The later "Olaus Wormius" (1588/1654) translated "Regnar Lodbrug's Epicedium." Lovecraft confused the two Wormiuses.
The Necronomicon was translated into Latin in 1228 A.D. by another 13th Century figure. At some point, someone got the translator's name wrong, perhaps because copies of the book had become unobtainable.
The Necronomicon was translated into Latin by the known Olaus Wormius during his lifespan (1588-1654), perhaps in 1628, an even 400 years after the date given in "The History of the Necronomicon." In this case, the Latin version of the book could not have been banned by Pope Gregory IX, but could have been banned by a later pope such as Urban VIII (pontificate 1623-1644).

The narrator of "The Festival" mentions seeing, at the home of his people in Kingsport, a copy of the unmentionable Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred, in Olaus Wormius’ forbidden Latin translation. He doesn't mention the date of the translation. [Festival (online text)]

Wilbur Whately visited the Miskatonic University Library to consult a copy of the hideous Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred in Olaus Wormius’ Latin version, as printed in Spain in the seventeenth century [HPL Dunwich (online text)]. This is consistent with "The History of the Necronomicon," which states that the Latin text was reprinted in Spain in the 1600s. Since this version was a reprint, the original Latin translation could have appeared any time before that: earlier in the 1600s, or even as early as 1228.

Andrew Phelan copied and translated page 177 from the copy of Wormius's edition at Miskatonic University library; the page was about the five-pointed stars from Mnar [AWD Curwen].

Papers left behind on Upton Gardner’s desk included copies of pages from the Necronomicon, in the translation by Olaus Wormius, provided by the Miskatonic University library [AWD Dweller].

Laban Shrewsbury had read Wormius' translation [AWD Keeper ].

Seneca Lapham borrowed the Miskatonic Library's copy of Wormius's translation, which was normally kept under lock and key [AWD Lurker].

The forger Alastair White claimed to have a copy of Wormius' translation for sale, but in Solar Pon's estimation, it was only a hoax [AWD Six].

John Carnby suspected that there are certain omissions and erroneous renderings in the Latin version of Olaus Wormius. Upon consulting the Arabic original, he found two passages later omitted by Wormius: a description regarding the will of a dead sorcerer and a formula for the exorcism of the dead. [CAS Return (online text)]

A reviewer of W. T. Faraday's 1935 English translation of the Necronomicon stated that Olaus Wormius was a black magician who was burned at the stake several hundred years ago. [DAW Review (online text)] These statements are not consistent with the official biography of Wormius [Ole Worm, Wikipedia, 11/30/2020].

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