Icelandic
Íslenska
Icelandic has changed remarkably little since the Middle Ages: an Icelander today reads the thirteenth-century sagas without a translation. The island's isolation accounts for much of that, but so does deliberate policy: rather than borrow foreign words, Icelandic coins new ones from its own roots. It kept the letters þ and ð, which English once had and lost.
- Family
- North Germanic
- Script
- Latin
- Speakers
- ≈ 350,000
- Where
- Iceland
- In the game
- Mid-range language
How to spot it
Impossible to mistake: the letters þ (thorn) and ð (eth), plus the endings -ur, -ið, -nn.
A few sentences
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Ég ætla að fara í sund eftir vinnu í dag.
I am going to the swimming pool after work today.
-
Ég tala ekki mjög góða ensku.
I do not speak very good English.
-
Ég gleymdi að loka glugganum.
I forgot to shut the window.
-
Ég á engan pening fyrr en á föstudaginn.
I have no money until Friday.
-
Bíllinn minn bilaði í morgun.
My car broke down this morning.