Icelandic (Islenska)

Introduction

Iceland Map Icelandic is a North Germanic language spoken in Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese, although the two languages are not mutually intelligible because they have developed in isolation due to their insular location.

Viking Helmet The first known settlers of Iceland came from Norway in 874 AD. They spoke Old Norwegian, also known as Old Norse. After the adoption of Christianity around 1000 AD, Icelanders produced a large number of manuscripts including sagas and Eddas (described below). Between 1000 and 1400 AD, the Norwegian spoken in Iceland diverged from the Norwegian spoken in Scandinavia and became known as Icelandic.
Iceland Ship
Icelandic is the official language of Iceland where it is spoken by some 230,000 people. There are also speakers of Icelandic in the U.S. and Canada (Ethnologue). There are a number of Icelandic newspapers, magazines and radio stations in addition to several TV channels. Icelandic is the medium of education, although some education is available in other languages.

Dialects

Icelandic does not have any notable dialect differences.

Structure

Sound System

children

hot springs

Some of the distinguishing features of Icelandic phonology are listed below.

Vowels

Consonants

Icelandic has 8 vowels and 5 diphthongs.
Stressed vowels are long in monosyllabic words where the vowel is word-final, before single consonants, and before consonant clusters pr tr kr sr, pj tj sj, tv kv.
Unstressed vowels are always short.

Icelandic has 21 consonants.
There is a contrast between aspirated and unaspirated p, t, k rather than between p,t, k and b, d, g, which is rare in Indo-European languages.
There is a contrast between voiced and voiceless n, m, l, r, which is also rare in Indo-European languages;
When voiceless stops are doubled or precede l, r , they become pre-aspirated, cf. ekki "not," epli "apple.".
Many consonants can be either short or long (consonant length makes a difference in word meaning).

Stress
Stress in Icelandic words normally falls on the first syllable, but there are exceptions.

Click here to listen to the pronunciation of some common words and phrases in Icelandic.

Grammar

iceberg

volcano

Icelandic is a highly inflected language with grammatical categories typical of all Germanic languages.

Nouns and adjectives

Verbs

There are three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter).
There are two numbers (singular and plural).
There are 4 cases (nominative, accusative, dative and genitive)
The definite article is suffixed to the noun, and both are fully declined, e.g., hestur "a horse" and hesturinn "the horse." The definite article agrees with the noun in gender, case, and number.
Nouns and adjectives have both a strong and weak form, e.g., different forms of the adjective are used depending on whether the object or person is definite or indefinite, e.g., rauða húsiö "the red house" and rautt hús "a red house."

There are three persons (1st, 2nd, 3rd).
There are two numbers (singular and plural).
There are two simple tenses, presen/future and past; and a number of compound tenses that use auxiliary verbs)
There are 3 moods (indicative, optative, imperative).
There are three voices (active, passive, and middle)
There are strong and weak verbs.

Word order
The normal word order in Icelandic is Subject-Object-Verb. However, other word orders are possible since inflections make clear the function of words in sentences.

Vocabulary

festival

churh

dogs

The preservation of the Icelandic language is taken seriously by the Icelanders — rather than borrow foreign words for new concepts, new Icelandic words are diligently forged for public use.

Góðan dag	Good day, hello
Bless	Good bye
Gjörðu svo vellég biðþig	Please
Takk	Thank you
Já	Yes
Nie	No
Maður	Man
Kona	Woman

Below are the numerals 1-10 in Icelandic.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
einn	tveir	þrir	fjórir	fimm	sex	sjo	ötta	níu	tíu

Icelandic tends not to borrow words from other languages. Instead of borrowing, Icelandic translates new words or builds them by using native components, e.g., sími "telephone," útvarp "radio," bifreið "car," tölva "computer," flugvöllur "airport."

Writing

writing

painting

The modern Icelandic alphabet has developed from a one created in the 19th century by the Danish linguist Rasmus Rask and based on a 12th century orthography. Late 20th century changes were the adoption of é and the abolition of z.

The Icelandic alphabet is notable for its retention of two letters that no longer exist in English, namely, Þþ (eth) representing the voiceless th in math, and Ðð representing the voiced th in those. All vowel letters with the exception of æ and ö can also have a superscripted acute accent, e.g., á, é, í, ó, ú.

Aa

Áá

Bb

Dd

Ðð

Ee

Éé

Ff

Gg

Hh

Ii

Íí

Jj

Kk

Ll

Mm

Nn

Oo

Óó

Pp

Rr

Ss

Tt

Uu

Úú

Xx

Yy

Ýý

Þþ

Ææ

Öö

.

Take a look at Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Icelandic.

Mannréttindayfirslýsing Sameinuðo Þjóðanna

Declaration of Human Rights in Icelandic

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

geyser

Did you know that English borrowed these words from Icelandic?

geyser	from Icelandic Geysir, name of a hot spring in the valley of Haukadal
saga	a narrative composition of Iceland or Norway in the Middle Ages, from Old Norse saga "story,"
viking	Scandinavian pirate, from Old Norse vikingr, which usually is explained as "one who came from the fjords," from vik "creek"

Resources

Click here to find out where Icelandic is taught in the United States.
Click here to find learning materials for studying Icelandic.

Online resources for the study of Icelandic language and culture
Languages-on-the-Web: Icelandic
Ethnologue entry for Icelandic
Wikipedia article on Icelandic
UCLA Language Profile for Icelandic
University of Hull, UK: Icelandic links
University of Wisconsin Icelandic online dictionary and readings
Yamada Language Center Icelandic resources
BBC Country Profile: Iceland
Omniglot Icelandic alphabet
Learning Icelandic - tips and links

Interesting Facts

Icelandic sagas
The Icelandic sagas are literary documents that date back to the 13th-14th centuries. They describe genealogical and family histories of Icelandic settlers in the 10th and early 11th centuries. Their authors are unknown. The most famous is Njál's saga, Brennu-Njálssaga "The Story of Burnt Njal." It tells a tale about the obligations of bloodlines and what happens when ordinary people are confronted with violence. It is is also a story about friendship, wherein Gunnar Hamundarson and Njál Thorgeirsson remain loyal friends despite the best efforts of enemies to break up their friendship. In the end, however, honor and jealousy result in Njál and his supporters being burned alive as they defend the family farmhouse.
Click here to read an English translation of Njál's saga.

Icelandic Edda
Edda is the name of two Icelandic books, the first a collection of poetry, mythology, and grammar by Snorri Sturluson (1178 -1241) an Icelandic historian, poet and politician. It is called the Younger or Prose Edda; and a circa 1200 collection of ancient Germanic poetry and religious tales, called the Elder or Poetic Edda. There are a number of theories about the origin of the word Edda, non of them conclusive.

Icelandic is a very stable language. In fact, written Icelandic has changed so little over time that Icelanders today can still read the Eddas and sagas of Old Norse literature that were written more than eight hundred years ago with the help of modern spelling and footnotes.