Icelandic language
Icelandic is a North Germanic language spoken chiefly in Iceland. Descended from Old Norse, it preserves many features of its medieval form.
Old Norse: The North Germanic language spoken by Scandinavians during the Viking Age and the Middle Ages. Icelandic descends from this language, whose literature and grammar remain unusually accessible in Icelandic.
Settlement of Iceland: The migration and establishment of Norse and Celtic communities in Iceland, mainly during the ninth and tenth centuries. Settlers brought the Norse speech from which Icelandic developed.
Icelandic literature: Literature written in Icelandic, from medieval works to modern poetry, fiction, and drama. A long literary tradition gives Icelandic a prominent role in national culture.
Faroese language: A North Germanic language spoken chiefly in the Faroe Islands and descended from Old Norse. Faroese shares a North Atlantic ancestry with Icelandic but developed differently.
North Germanic languages: The branch of Germanic languages that includes Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish. This branch places Icelandic among its closest linguistic relatives.
Icelandic sagas: Medieval prose narratives written in Iceland, especially stories of families, kings, and legendary figures. Their language offers a major record of medieval Icelandic prose.
Icelandic naming tradition: Naming practices in Iceland, historically using patronymics or matronymics rather than fixed family surnames. Icelandic names preserve grammatical patterns and reflect the language’s social use.
Norwegian language: A North Germanic language spoken chiefly in Norway, with two official written standards. Norwegian’s reduced inflection contrasts with Icelandic’s more extensive case system.
Icelandic grammar: The system of Icelandic word forms, sentence structure, and grammatical relationships. Its inflections preserve distinctions that many related languages have reduced.
First Grammatical Treatise: A twelfth-century Icelandic work analyzing the sound system and writing of its language. This early treatise shows medieval Icelanders examining their own language systematically.