History & Language
The Reykjavík Grapevine takes on Iceland’s history, language and related topics
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Word Of The Issue: Fjandakornið
The word of this issue is fjandakornið. Author Margaret Atwood once pointed out that when it comes to a culture’s swear words, “the worst ones in any language are what they are most afraid of”. In Iceland, nearly every swear word has…
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Word Of The Issue: Gúrkutíð
Gúrkutíð is that magical time of year between June and August, or January and March, when nothing notable happens and media have no news to write. Although this phenomenon is well-known in Iceland, ‘The Cucumber Time’ (gúrka=cucumber) dates back to the idle…
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This Day In Icelandic History: Murder Duo Bjarni And Steinunn Get Sentenced To Death
In summer 1802 two curious murders happened in Sjöundá, near Rauðasandur beach in the Westfjords. The village consisted only of two families: Bjarni Bjarnason with his wife Guðrún Egilsdóttir; and Steinunn Sveinsdóttir with her husband Jón Þorgrímsson. Jón disappeared on 1st April…
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Word Of The Issue: Ostaskeri
Travellers are often surprised by the peculiar ‘ostaskeri’ found in Icelandic Airbnb kitchens. Although it looks like a spatula, the horizontal blade at its base betrays its purpose: it’s a cheese (osta) cutter (skeri)! But why do Icelanders often talk about how…
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This Day In Icelandic History: Danish Trade Monopoly Begins
April 20, 1602, was a momentous day in Iceland. It was on this day that the Kingdom of Denmark first imposed a trade monopoly on Iceland. This didn’t just mean that Iceland could only trade with Denmark; it also meant that only…
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Word Of The Issue: Teika
The Icelandic word of the issue is teika. This word is a classic example of vocabulary that falls out of use due to technological evolution. “Teika” is derived from the English word “take”, and specifically refers to hopping onto a taxi’s running…
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Word Of The Issue: Geirvarta
Voted ‘ugliest word’ by Icelanders in 2013, ‘geirvarta’ is the Icelandic word for nipple. This compound, however, is much funnier than its English counterpart. In fact, it literally means ‘wart with a dot’—which is neither accurate nor particularly appealing but surely amusing.…
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This Day In Icelandic History: Halldór Laxness’ The Atom Station Sells Out In One Day
Long before there was Björk, there was Iceland’s original pop star, Halldór Laxness. One of the most misunderstood Icelandic authors in the history of literature (e.g. Bjartur from Independent People is not the hero of the story), his work consistently plays with…
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Word Of The Issue: Að Kynda
Have you ever heard Icelanders’ favourite story about the word ‘kynda’? Tour guides in particular love to explain how it roughly translates to ‘heat up’ and that it derives from the word ‘kind’ which means ‘sheep.’ In fact, they say, packing a…
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Word Of The Issue: Farfuglaheimili
If you were ever a tourist in your youth, chances are you’ve set foot in a “farfuglaheimili” at least once. “Farfuglaheimili” is the proper Icelandic word for “hostel,” but the literal translation is far more poetic than that. “Farfuglar” are in fact…
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Word of the Issue: Fössari
“Fössari” is an informal Icelandic word for Friday, which is more formally written “Föstudagur.”There should be nothing particularly controversial about this word in itself, yet for some reason it evokes rage in a great many people. Think of an informal word that…
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Word Of The Issue: Þórðargleði
The English language doesn’t have a word for it, so it borrowed from German to express “schadenfreude”: the joy of watching others suffer. But there is a word for this joyous phenomenon in Icelandic: Þórðargleði. The story goes that a farmer named…
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Word Of The Issue: Gárungar
A phrase you should never use in a news article is “some people say.” Who are these people? But saying “some fools say,”—now, there is a line you can freely use. The word “gárungar” has many meanings, like fools, reckless people or…
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Word of the Issue: Steypa
This is one of those words which has two completely different meanings. It literally means “concrete,” and is often used in this sense. But it is also used to mean “nonsense,” particularly of a low quality. Why does concrete = bullshit? Because…
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Word Of The Issue: Kvennabósi
Around the year 1300, the Saga of Bósi and Herraud was written. It tells of the fantastic adventures of two viking friends. The most notorious part of the story is the graphic recounting of an erotic rendezvous between Bósi and a farmer’s…
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Word Of The Issue: Útlenska
This word basically means “foreign languages,” but not quite. It is an expression that linguistically splits all languages into Icelandic or not Icelandic. You could almost view it as a Husserlian phenomenological exploration of language as The Other—that is if it wasn’t…
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Word Of The Issue: Örlagabytta
One of the things Icelanders do better than most is alcoholism, which is probably why we have 300 words for drunks. While the availability of good words is extensive, one word beats them all–örlagabytta. It is poetic, magical and laced with Brennivín.…
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Saga Recap: The Saga of Ketill Salmon
To celebrate the return of the world’s favorite fantasy-violence-porn series to its favorite fantasy-violence-porn TV station, I’ve decided to recap the closest thing that the Icelandic sagas have to a fantasy-violence-porn trilogy. It’s got it all: blood-splatter, steamy infidelity, fire-breathing dragons, and…
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Reykjavík Of Yore: A Towering Artist
Although we at Grapevine can be cynical about art, life and the purpose of everything—some people even think we are disrespectful or flat out rude about these things—there is one guy we deeply respect. The sculptor Einar Jónsson has carved the Icelandic…
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Word Of The Issue: Hommi
Look up “hommi” in the dictionary and you’ll find the definition of a gay man. But colloquially this word refers to something else: a dustpan and broom with a long handle. While the idea of a long handle might conjure up the…
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Reykjavík Of Yore: The Farmers’ Wet Dream Parliament Made Happen
Not many hotels are deemed so important that Parliament passes laws to get them built, but that was the case with Hótel Saga, aka the Farmer’s Palace, in the Vesturbærinn neighbourhood of Reykjavík. It started as a dream of the Farmer’s Association—a…
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Word Of The Issue: Flugdólgur
Until 1989, beer was illegal in Iceland. However, there was one place where beer was legal—the international airport in Keflavík. There, drunks entered an exotic beer-filled purgatory, where all their worries could be drowned before soaring up into the skies. Imagine boarding…
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Word of the Issue: Kviðmágur
The word of the issue this issue is kviðmágur, which roughly translates as “belly cousin.” And it does describe a relation of sorts: that is, when two men have had sexual relations with the same person, they are now kviðmágar. The relationship…