{"id":3481,"date":"2014-07-31T17:26:30","date_gmt":"2014-07-31T17:26:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/?p=3481"},"modified":"2014-07-31T17:26:30","modified_gmt":"2014-07-31T17:26:30","slug":"smoky-vikings-of-smoky-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/2014\/07\/31\/smoky-vikings-of-smoky-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"Smoky vikings of Smoky Bay."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"sd105\"<\/a>As I was browsing through my notes about hlj\u00f3\u00f0breyting<\/em> (= metathesis) for another entry that I currently have in the works I found something interesting that I thought might amuse you while not being quite as heavy as learning the theory of different sound changes. I understand many of you, dear readers, have recently suffered a heatwave or are still in process of suffering one, so let’s keep things light and fun instead.<\/p>\n

In London live the Londoners, in Helsinki Helsinkians, in Reykjavik Reykjavikians. Or as you would say in Icelandic:\u00a0\u00cd Lund\u00fanum b\u00faa Lund\u00fanab\u00faarnir, \u00ed Helsinki Helsinkib\u00faarnir, \u00ed Reykjav\u00edk Reykv\u00edkingarnir<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But wait, isn’t something missing from the inhabitant? That’s right, somehow the genitive ending\u00a0got dropped off from the city name. This is not even one of the worst of most confusing city name vs. inhabitant name there is and there’s no proper grammatical reason behind it, far as I know. I mean I’ve written to the side of the note “professor does not know why it is so, we have to just learn it by heart” so I assume someone in class asked about it. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

So let’s have a look at who lives where. For foreign cities the process is quite straight-forward: city name\u00a0+ b\u00fai<\/em> (= inhabitant) usually does the trick, and the city name is often in genitive form such as in Lund\u00fana<\/strong>b\u00fai<\/em>. The only time you’ll be stumped is if the city has an Icelandic name, which indeed sometimes happens, as there’s no way you’ll be able to guess that in advance. One key could be “would Icelanders of old have known of this place” but that’s not a waterproof rule – just look at Helsinkian. Yet a person from Bergen, Norway, is actually from Bj\u00f6rgvin if you ask an Icelander, and is therefore not a Bergenab\u00fai but a Bj\u00f6rgvinjarb\u00fai<\/em>! To confuse you further, though Bj\u00f6rgvin is also a male name the city of Bj\u00f6rgvin is grammatically a feminine.<\/p>\n

The weirdest ones are from Iceland itself, of course. Just look at these town and area names and their matching inhabitants:<\/p>\n

\"ct278\"<\/a>Siglufj\u00f6r\u00f0ur<\/em><\/p>\n

In \u00cdsafj\u00f6r\u00f0ur<\/em> lives an \u00cdsfir\u00f0ingur<\/em> and in Siglufj\u00f6r\u00f0ur<\/em> a Siglfir\u00f0ingur<\/em>. But a person from Vestfir\u00f0ir<\/em> is also a -fir\u00f0ingur – Vestfir\u00f0ingur<\/em>. All places with names ending -v\u00edk do the same as Reykv\u00edkingur<\/em>, they drop the genitive ending: Keflv\u00edkingur<\/em> come from Keflav\u00edk<\/em>, Grindv\u00edkingur<\/em> from Grindav\u00edk<\/em>. In Su\u00f0urland<\/em> lives the Sunnlendingur<\/em>, in Nor\u00f0urland<\/em> the Nor\u00f0lendingur<\/em>, in Austurland<\/em> an Austlendingur<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Don’t think the above helps you at all… not all places with identical endings have the same form for inhabitants. You’d think that since Borgarnes<\/em> is the home of a Borgnesingur<\/em>, Seltjarnarnes<\/em> would host a Seltjarnarnesingur? Nope! A person who lives in Seltjarnarnes<\/em> is a Seltirningur<\/em>! Doesn’t sound logical? Don’t worry, you’re not going insane – there’s very little logic and a very long history of spoken language that has shaped these words into what they are today.<\/p>\n

Some really seem random when you look at them. Selfoss<\/em> has a Selfyssingur<\/em>. Gar\u00f0ab\u00e6r<\/em> is where the Gar\u00f0b\u00e6ingur<\/em> lives. K\u00f3pavogur<\/em> has a K\u00f3pavogsb\u00fai<\/em>, and here I’ve also written in my notes “…but no one knows exactly why”.<\/p>\n

\"ct040\"<\/a>Akureyringar<\/em><\/p>\n

However, there are some rules that come into play in real life though they have no place in theory. You would say that a person who lives in Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur<\/em> is a Hafnfir\u00f0ingur<\/em> but you’d soon be shouted down by a group of angry Hafnfir\u00f0ingar<\/em>\u00a0protesting that this is only halfway correct. To actually be a Hafnfir\u00f0ingur<\/em> you’d need to have had at least three previous generations living in the town, else you’re just your previous home town member f.ex. a Reykv\u00edkingur<\/em> living in Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur<\/em>. And that, they insist, makes a huge difference in your social status and whether you can be considered a real Hafnfir\u00f0ingur<\/em> or just an uppity newcomer.<\/p>\n