Tag Archives: vocabulary
Fin whales safe for summer! Posted by hulda on Mar 3, 2016
Whales are in the news now that one of the biggest whalers of Iceland, Hvalur hf., has announced there won’t be whaling of fin whales this summer due to problems in whale meat exporting to Japan (link). The Icelandic market is so tiny and whale meat is no stable dish here that it simply isn’t…
Icelandic midwinter feast, Þorrablót. Posted by hulda on Jan 28, 2016
In the deepest winter Icelanders celebrate Þorri, the personification of winter: that’s when traditional foods are served along with strong liquor, preferably Brennivín.The celebration bears the name Þorrablót, a clear reminder of its Pagan roots – a blót is a ritual sacrifice or a feast held to honour a god or gods. The tradition died…
Prepare for ash. Posted by hulda on Jan 7, 2016
Don’t panic now but Iceland is loading up a new volcanic eruption at Bárðarbunga, the same site where the most recent volcanic eruption also had its start. This time, if the eruption site is the same as the earthquake site it would be sub-glacial, so there’d be plenty of ash. What kind of ash remains to…
Top ten Icelandic posts! Posted by hulda on Dec 17, 2015
The year is drawing to an end and Christmas is nearing, so now is the best time to look back a bit and see which posts of this blog have proved most popular! 1) Staving off a Disaster – Magical Tattoos Remember when it was really popular to have tattoos done in kanji with very…
New words for Icelandic Posted by hulda on Nov 19, 2015
On the 4th August this year Samtökin ’78 declared a competition to find new words for the Icelandic language called Hýryrði, Gay Words. By this they meant it was time to find Icelandic equivalents for words that were only used as loanwords from English because – well, as many of you readers probably know already…
Halloween or Hrekkjavaka? Posted by hulda on Oct 29, 2015
The end of October is almost at hand now so what better time to learn some spooky vocabulary! Hrekkjavaka = Halloween Grasker = pumpkin Kónguló = spider. Spiderman is naturally Kóngulóarmaðurinn. Kölski = the devil. He can also be called f.ex. andskoti, ári, fjandinn, flugnahöfðingi (= lord of flies), myrkrahöfðingi (= lord of darakness), óvinur…
Soon landing in Reykjavík! Posted by hulda on Sep 17, 2015
The ravens have returned to the villages and towns. In Iceland ravens are a seasonal sight, living the spring and summer in the countryside but spending the dark, cold season among humans. During the summer seagulls take over but come autumn they make way for the true kings who return to take their thrones atop…