Word Of The Issue: Málþóf

The Grapevine’s guide to sounding Icelandic, one word at a time

The Icelandic word málþóf has been on everybody’s lips these past months. Why? Because last spring, the parliamentary opposition in Alþingi engaged in a filibuster in an attempt to block a law whose purpose was to increase the rent on fisheries.

The Icelandic word for filibuster is málþóf. While the English term derives from the Dutch vrijbuiter meaning freebooter, or looter, the Icelandic term has a very different meaning. The former half of the word, mál, just means talk, language or spoken word, the latter part, þóf, refers to the act of fulling, which is an ancient method of working wool back and forth and rubbing it so that it becomes denser, providing better insulation.

So in a sense, málþóf is the act of working an issue back and forth, without adding anything to the issue, just endlessly going back and forth on it, essentially attempting to talk the issue to death, without resolving it, or getting to a conclusion.

The filibuster is essentially the minority’s way to block an elected majority from enacting legislation. It has not been looked at favourably in the democratic tradition of the Nordic countries, including Iceland, where filibusters seldom happen. The filibuster in Alþingi this spring was so unpopular with the general public that the approval ratings of the parties engaging in it plummeted the longer it went on, indicating that the Icelandic public actually sees the act as an attempt to freeboot on, or a looting of, democracy.

Learn more Icelandic words hér.