Iceland was settled during the late 9th and 10th centuries A.D. by Norwegian and Celtic (mainly Irish and Scottish) immigrants. In 930, the ruling chiefs established an assembly called Althing ‘Alþingi’ that convened every summer at Þingvellir (“parliament plains”) and is reportedly, the world’s oldest functioning parliament. Representative chiefs (Goðorðsmenn or Goðar) met yearly to conduct their legislative duties. Laws were not written, but memorized by an elected ‘Speaker of the law’ (Lögsögumaður).

In 1875, the volcano Askja in the northeastern highlands erupted, causing great damage and devastating the Icelandic economy. Twenty percent Iceland’s population would emigrate during next 25 years, mostly to Canada and the United States. The eruption formed Öskjuvatn (Lake Askja), the deepest lake in Iceland (220 m deep). Askja’s latest eruption was recorded in 1961.

Notwithstanding its chilly name, the climate in Iceland is surprisingly temperate, moderated by the North Atlantic current that pushes the warm Gulf Stream water toward the North Pole. Some winter days in Iceland may be warmer than in New York or Vienna. Summers are damp and cool. So how did Iceland get its frosty name?

According to Landnámabók, Iceland was discovered by Naddoddr, a Scandinavian sailor, who upon losing his way as he was sailing from Norway to the Faroe Islands, drifted toward the east coast of Iceland that he named Snæland (Snowland). Another Scandinavian, the Swedish sailor Garðar Svavarsson, also happened by chance upon the coast of Iceland. Realizing that it was an island, he named it Arðarshólmi (Garðar's Island) after himself. Svavarsson settled for the winter at Húsavík, by Skjalfandi bay, on the northern coast of Iceland. (Today the town of Húsavík is most famous for whale-watching.) The only Scandinavian who arrived at Garðarshólmi intentionally was Flóki Vilgerðarson, also known as Hrafna-Flóki (Raven-Flóki). He settled for the winter at Barðaströnd where he endured a bitter winter. Inspired by the drift ice in the fjords, Flóki named the island its current name Ísland (Iceland). The ‘folksy’ version of the story is that, after having spent a cruel winter in the region, Flóki fled in disgust, shaking his fist and shouting “Bah, bloody Iceland”.

You probably know of Iceland because of the 1986 Summit meeting between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Or, because of famous Icelanders, such as:

	Leif Ericson, the first European to arrive in America. (The Viking Leif Ericson is believed to have explored new lands west of Greenland in 1000 AD, almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World in 1492.)
	Björk, the vocalist of The Sugarcubes, the biggest band ever to emerge from Iceland.
	Halldór Laxness, the Icelandic novelist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955.

The Icelandic (Íslenska) Language
 

The Icelandic alphabet

Icelandic uses the Latin alphabet characters with diacritical marks and special characters.

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 Vv Xx Yy Ýý Þþ Ææ Öö

Diacritical marks do not indicate accent nor length, but a different sound. For example, ‘A’ is pronounced [a], but ‘Á’ represents the diphthong [au].

The most unusual characters are those for the “th” sound: ‘Þ’ and ‘Ð’. ‘Þ’ is pronounced as [th] in ‘think’ and ‘Ð’ as [th] in ‘they’. ‘Þ” has been used continuously in Icelandic from the beginning. Icelanders adopted this letter for manuscript writing, based on an English model, but the letter was also known in the runic alphabet used by Nordic people before they adopted the Latin alphabet. The letter ‘Ð’ also originates in English writing. At least, it was used in Old English and Old Saxon and is found in Icelandic manuscripts from the 13th century.

For an example of a Icelandic keyboard layout, refer to: (http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/keyboards/kbdic.htm)

The following is an example of Icelandic writing taken from the United Nations’. Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
 

Historically, Icelandic began to develop as an independent language in the late 9th century and early in the 10th century, soon after the settlement of Iceland. Most of the Europeans who settled Iceland during the period from 870 to 930 A.D. came from Norway, particularly from the West, and others from Sweden and the British Isles, mainly Ireland. The predominant language Norwegian and there was not a significant difference between Icelandic and Norwegian until the 14th century, when the languages diverged mainly due to changes in the Norwegian language, since Icelandic has characteristically resisted change, to the point that modern Icelanders have no difficulty reading twelfth-century literature.

According to Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, the Italian population geneticist and professor at Stanford University since 1970, this tendency to exhibit what he calls ‘linguistic inertia’ is not uncommon in island populations. According to Cavalli-Sforza “…it appears that their language ceases almost entirely to evolve. This has happened in Iceland, which was settled by Norwegians in the ninth century A.D. Modern Icelandic is very similar to ancient Norse, and Icelandic speakers are easily able to read the great epics, the sagas that date from the colony's founding or earlier. Outside contact diminished greatly and virtually stopped after the eleventh century; linguistic novelties then ceased to arrive. The rarity of migrants was like a lack of mutation. Without new material, evolution stops. Almost the entire Icelandic population used to meet yearly when Parliament (the first in European history) met; this probably helped avoid excessive local differentiation within the island and contributed to slowing down evolution.” (Reference: Genes, Peoples and Languages, by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza)

Another characteristic of the language is its uniformity, i.e. the absence of dialects. Presumably, there was some dialectal diversity in the language of the settlers, but as they adapted, these differences subsided. Regional variations in Modern Icelandic are mainly minor differences in pronunciation, and all Icelanders understand each other quite easily regardless of where they live in Iceland.

Icelandic Grammar

Icelandic has many categories of inflected words and verbs. Verbs are conjugated according to tense, person, number, mood and voice. Nouns, adjectives, pronouns and the numerals 1 through 4 have four cases. Icelandic has seventy three declensions, compared to Latin’s twenty-three. There are three genders of nouns. Adjectives, most pronouns and the numerals 1-4 are also declined in three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter). Gender delegation in Icelandic is more complicated that in English, where male persons and creatures are masculine, female persons and creatures are feminine and inanimate objects are neuter. It is even more complicated than German, where it is possible to get a clue from the Nominative singular form of the noun.

Icelandic language policy

The Icelandic Language Council, provides advice and guidance about language usage and neologisms. Icelandic language policy is the preservation of the language and creating words for new technology.

Icelanders have been quite successful at cleverly creating words for new technology ‘recycling’ the resources of their own language. Neologisms are formed by combining old words in a new way. Examples:

Computer = ‘tölva’ created by joining of ‘tölur’ (numbers) and the ending of ‘völva’ (prophetess)

Meteorology = ‘veðurfræði’, the combination of ‘veður’ (weather) and ‘fræði’ (science)

Garage = ‘bílskúr’ was created by joining ‘bíll’ (car) and ‘skúr’ (shed).

AIDS = ‘alnæmi’ comes from adding the prefix ‘al-‘ (all) to ‘næmi’ (openness to).

Jet = ‘þota’ from the past participial form of the verb ‘þjóta’ (speed)

Television = ‘sjónvarp’ created by combining “sight + sending”

Radio = ‘útvarp” the combination of “out + sending”

Mobile telephone = sími (line)


Notwithstanding all of the efforts to keep the language pure, some loan words have been introduced into the language. However, loanwords are typically adapted quickly to the Icelandic pronunciation, writing and inflection. Examples:

‘Borrowed’ from Danish:

Precisely = ‘Akkúrat’
Sober = ‘Edrú’
To see, understand = ‘Fatta’

Borrowed’ from English:

The occupation of Iceland by the U.S. and Great Britain during WWII, and increasingly close relations with English-speaking nations, have contributed to the predominantly English influence on Icelandic during the 20th century. Examples of loanwords from British English during WWII include:

Jeep = ‘Jeppi’
Bus = ‘Rúta’
Party = ‘Partí’
Business = ‘Bissness’

Most ‘ borrowed’ words colloquial, words of Icelandic origin are preferred in the written language.

Conversely, English has the word ‘geyser’ for hot spring (from the Icelandic ‘geyser’) and many English words derive from Old Norse, such as ‘mire’ from ‘mýrr’; ‘fjord’ from ‘fjörýr’ and ‘reindeer’ from ‘hreindýr’.
 

References

http://www.hi.is/~oi/geology_of_iceland.htm

http://www.hi.is/~oi/geology_of_iceland.htm

http://www.routledge.co.uk/

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Icelandic

http://go.hrw.com/atlas/norm_htm/iceland.htm#Facts

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/