History & Language
The Reykjavík Grapevine takes on Iceland’s history, language and related topics
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Word of the Issue: Djammviskubit
The word of the issue this time around is djammviskubit; a portmanteau of “djamm” (“party”) and “samviskubit” (“regret”). It refers to the distinct feeling you get the morning after you drank to excess, when you wake up and realize that you made…
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Lemúrinn: That Time an Icelandic Linguist (Almost) Rescued a British Stockbroker Stuck on the Greenland Ice Cap
The past was a simpler time, back when any young Briton could embark on daring expeditions to far-flung locales in the name of science, progress, and the British Empire (provided he had enough funds). That’s exactly what fourteen adventurous young men did…
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Reykjavík of Yore: Hallgrímskirkja
Pictured here is probably the best-known landmark in Reykjavík, and perhaps the most Instagrammed one, too. The church Hallgrímskirkja is named in honour of Iceland’s most prominent writer of religious poetry, Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614-1674). The older image dates from 1969, when the…
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Reykjavík Of Yore: Landspítallin
Pictured here is the oldest building of Landspítalinn, The National University Hospital of Iceland, located by Hringbraut in 101 Reykjavík. The featured picture dates back to 1954, and the one below was taken right here and now in 2017. Built in in…
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RECAP: The Dream of Star-Oddi
So some dude named Oddi, who is a good at astronomy but shitty at poetry, eats a bunch of psychedelic mushrooms and trips some craaazy shit. Technically, he is on a “fishing expedition” and “dreams” it but we’ve all told our parents…
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The Saga of Hrómundur Gripsson
I’m gonna skip all the “son of blahblahblahson” bullshit and get straight to the juicy man-meat of this Saga. Okay? Okay. Long intro short some pretty little rich boy named Hrómundur is out raiding with King Ólafur of Denmark. He gets word…
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RECAP: The Saga of Sigurgarður the Valiant
It’s purely coincidence that “frækna,” the Icelandic word for “valiant,” looks a bit like the English word for “freak” because this saga is chock full of some freaky motherfuckers. Sigurgarður himself is normal bordering on boring but his BFF is a literal…
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RECAP: Saga of Ragnar Shaggy-Britches
Listen up because I am about to recap the Saga on which your favorite, wildly inaccurate History Channel drama series, ‘Vikings’, is based. And yes, it is literally called the Saga of Ragnar Shaggy-Britches. It is one of few Sagas that is…
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RECAP: The Tale of Dumbass-Hrói
Our summer Saga series has taken us to Norway and Sweden (and will again) but has largely skipped all things Danish. We wouldn’t want our former colonizers to feel left out (they were very involved for soooo long after all), so this…
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Word of the Issue
The word of the issue this issue is sko. This is a tricky one to translate directly. Some Icelanders use it to punctuate the end of a sentence, some use it to punctuate a phrase within a sentence. It’s less a word…
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RECAP: The Tale of Jökull Búason
I know we’re all pretty sick of trolls in 2016, but trolls were way funnier in 1260. So this recap is gonna revisit a character from last issue’s recap, The Saga of the People of Kjalarnes. While much of the accuracy of…
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RECAP: Saga of the People of Kjalarnes
If you’ve ever stopped along Reykjavík’s waterfront to ogle the magnificent mountainess known as Esja, you’ve probably seen some little buildings scattered about her feet. That is Kjalarnes, the site of the only Saga to take place within sight of our modern…
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RECAP: Möttuls Saga, the Saga of the Mantle
If you remember the portrait of Arthurian nobility painted by Erex, this Saga is about to fuck your shit right up. It’s another translation of an Old French poem, technically into “Norwegian” but this was so long ago that Norwegian was just…
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RECAP: Saga of Eiríkur the Red
Let’s just get this out of the way upfront: forget what the history books told you because Columbus did not “discover” the Americas. Several hundred years before he set out across the Atlantic, the Norsemen sailed along the coasts of what is…
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RECAP: Saga Of Hrolf The Tramper
The Saga of this issue is Göngu-Hrolfs Saga, literally “Walking Hrolfur’s Saga” but typically translated as the Saga of Hrolfur the Tramper. Boring old people like to argue about whether it’s a “legendary saga” or a “romance saga,” but just like most…
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There’s No Icelandic Word For: Steikt
The word of the issue this issue is steikt. Taken literally, it means “fried,” but taken as slang, it refers to a thing which is strange, inappropriate, poorly conceived, and bordering on surreal. Seldom meant as a compliment. Used in a sentence:…
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Word of the Week: Frek(ur)
The word of the week is frek(ur). This is a very useful word when describing everyday behavior. Frekur describes people who act with a combination of pushiness, stubbornness and obnoxiousness (see above example). Often this is used to describe bosses, teachers, or fellow…
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RECAP: The Eddic Poetry Special
Although I’d like to think that every month in Iceland is National Poetry Month, the reality is that Iceland doesn’t have an official National Poetry Month. In lieu of this, we’re going to take a break from recapping the dusty, repetitive Sagas…
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The Word Of The Issue: Nenna
The Word of the Issue this issue is nenna. This is a very important Icelandic word to learn. As a verb, it means “to have the will to do something,” and is almost always used negatively, e.g., “Ég nenni ekki út, ætla…
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Word Of The Issue: Svefngalsi
In this space, we talk about Icelandic words for which there is no ready English equivalent, or just sound better than their English counterparts. The word of this issue is svefngalsi. Svefngalsi is the kind of giddy hyperness you get from a…
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RECAP: Laxdæla Saga, The Allegedly Romantic One
If you ask the average native English speaker which of Shakespeare’s plays is their favorite, most will probably say ‘Romeo & Juliet’ just because it’s the only one they pretended to read when they were fifteen years old. I find that Laxdæla…
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Njáls Saga RECAP: The One Where They Burn That Motherfucker Down
We need to talk about Njáls Saga. Fully titled the Saga of Burned Njál, it is considered the absolute zenith of literary brilliance in Iceland’s original prose genre. It is basically THE SAGA. The one and only. Some particularly stuffy Icelandic writers…
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RECAP: Völsungasaga, The Saga Of The Völsungs
Episode three: The one with the most badass shield-maiden As usual, this story starts with some dude who is the son of some other dude. They have a bunch of other sons and all of that is boring. I’ll skip to the…