Grímur Kamban was, according to the Færeyinga saga

Færeyinga Saga

The Færeyinga Saga , the Norse saga of Faroemen, is the story of how the Faroes were converted to Christianity and became a part of the Kingdom of Norway.-Summary:It was written in Iceland shortly after 1200...

, the first man to set foot in the Faroe Islands

Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...

. The name was written Grímr in Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

 and is often referred to as Grim in the English literature.

The saga says, he was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

 escaping the tyranny of the Norse king Haraldur Hárfagri

Harald I of Norway

Harald Fairhair or Harald Finehair , , son of Halfdan the Black, was the first king of Norway.-Background:Little is known of the historical Harald...

. However, this is an error in this saga, because Harald's age was in the late 9th century, while the first Norse settlers reached the Faroes after 825.

Furthermore, the name Kamban indicates a celt

Celt

The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....

ic origin. Thus he could have been a man from Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, Western Isles or Isle of Man

Isle of Man

The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...

, where the Vikings had already settlements. Another theory says, he could have been an early Christianized Norwegian under the influence of Irish monks there.

"According to the Faereyinga Saga... the first settler in the Faroe Islands

Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...

 was a man named Grímur Kamban - Hann bygdi fyrstr Færeyar, it may have been the land taking of Grímur and his followers that cauysed the anchorites

Papar

The Papar were, according to early Icelandic historical sources, a group of Irish or Scottish monks resident in parts of Iceland at the time of the arrival of the Norsemen...

 to leave... the nickname Kamban is probably Gaelic and one interpretation is that the word refers to some physical handicap, another that it may point to his prowess as a sportsman. Probably he came as a young man to the Faroe Islands by way of Viking Ireland, and local tradition has it that he settled at Funningur

Funningur

Funningur is a town on the Faroe Islands. It is located on the north-west coast of Eysturoy . It was the only village in the municipality called Funnings kommuna, which on 1 January 2009 became part of Runavíkar kommuna....

 in Eysturoy

Eysturoy

Eysturoy means East island and is the second-largest of the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic, both in size and population. It is separated by a narrow sound from the main island of Streymoy. Eysturoy is extremely rugged, with some 66 separate mountain peaks, including Slættaratindur, the...

."

If Gaelic, the first part of Kamban would originate in the Old Gaelic camb crooked (found in the Scots names Campbell Caimbeul Crooked-Mouth and Cameron Camshròn Crooked Nose). The word Kamban itself would there most likely be from cambán (Modern Irish camán, Scots Gaelic caman, Manx camane), roughly translatable as crooked one. The sports reference refers to the use of camb also in the term cambóg, which refers in origin to the type of stick used in games like hurling, hockey and golf.

It was also Irish monks, who settled in the Faroes from about 625, which is today proved by botanical researches. According to Dicuil

Dicuil

Dicuil, Irish monk and geographer, born in the second half of the 8th century.-Background:The exact dates of Dicuil's birth and death unknown...

, those monks left the islands before 825 after Viking raids. Thus Grímur Kamban is supposed to be the first man, who re-settled the Faroes.

It is said that he settled down in Funningur

Funningur

Funningur is a town on the Faroe Islands. It is located on the north-west coast of Eysturoy . It was the only village in the municipality called Funnings kommuna, which on 1 January 2009 became part of Runavíkar kommuna....

 on Eysturoy

Eysturoy

Eysturoy means East island and is the second-largest of the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic, both in size and population. It is separated by a narrow sound from the main island of Streymoy. Eysturoy is extremely rugged, with some 66 separate mountain peaks, including Slættaratindur, the...

. The name funningur means finding. Excavations have shown Viking houses in this area, as well as all over the Faroes.

See also: Janus Kamban

Janus Kamban

Janus Kamban is a Faroese sculptor and last living representative from the "first generation" of professional artists in the Faroe Islands.Kamban is the first and most important sculptor in the Faroe Islands...

, leading Faroese sculptor.