The Icelandic Language

Iceladic is one of the Germanic languages. It developed from the Norse speech brought to Iceland by settlers from western Norway in the 9th – 10th centuries. Old Icelandic is the language of the sagas and other medieval poems. In grammar, vocabulary, and spelling, modern Icelandic is the most conservative of the Scandinavian languages; modern Icelanders can still read Old Norse sagas. Icelandic once borrowed words from Danish, Latin, and the Celtic and Romance languages, but a purist movement that began in the early 19th century has replaced most of these loanwords with words formed only from Icelandic elements.

Pronunciation:
Icelandic has characters in its alphabet that may seem quite foreign to some. Here’s a quick guide to help with your pronunciation

• Ð (capitalized)/ ð (lower case): called “eth” and pronounced like the “th” in there.
• Æ/æ: called, “aye” and pronounced like the “i” in Iceland.
• Ö/ö: pronounced like the “u” in further or murky.
• Þ/þ: called “thorn” and pronounced like the “th” in thin.
• Á/á: pronounced like the “ou” in ouch.
• É/é: is like a normal “e,” but with a subtle “y” before it. For instance, the Icelandic word for company is, “félag” and is pronounced like “fyelag.”
• Í/í: pronounced like the “ee” in eat.
• J/j: are pronounced like a y in ‘yell’. Example, Jon in Icelandic sounds like “Yone”
• Ó/ó: pronounced like the “o” in open.
• Ú/ú: pronounced like the “o” in move.

Icelandic phrases