Icelandic Translator
About Icelandic
Icelandic is a North Germanic language spoken by approximately 350,000 people, primarily in Iceland. Descended from Old Norse brought by Viking settlers in the 9th and 10th centuries, Icelandic has remained remarkably conservative, preserving many features of its medieval ancestor. The language uses the Latin alphabet supplemented with additional characters including thorn and eth.
Icelandic is famous for its language purism policy, where new concepts are given Icelandic-derived neologisms rather than borrowing foreign words. For example, the word for "computer" is "tolva," combining the words for "number" and "prophetess." This policy, maintained by the Icelandic Language Council, means modern Icelanders can read medieval sagas with relative ease. Iceland boasts an extraordinarily strong literary tradition, publishing more books per capita than any other country.