{"id":4255,"date":"2015-06-11T19:53:46","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T19:53:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/?p=4255"},"modified":"2015-06-11T19:53:46","modified_gmt":"2015-06-11T19:53:46","slug":"icelandic-unchangeable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/2015\/06\/11\/icelandic-unchangeable\/","title":{"rendered":"Icelandic – unchangeable?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Viking Arms and Armor by Helgi Hald\u00f3rsson at Flickr.com.<\/p><\/div>\n

At some point or another anyone interested in Icelandic will come across the popular idea that Icelandic is being kept unchanged, or at least that it has changed very little with time. Occasionally you’ll even hear people claim that Icelandic is so close to Old Norse that Icelanders can still understand it.<\/p>\n

Alas, all of the above is untrue, as romantic as it would be to believe otherwise.\u00a0Icelandic is a language just like any other and trying to keep it “clean” of foreign influence will never completely work. Languages are alive, they develop according to the needs of their speakers and evolve when it best suits the speakers, \u00a0so is language preservation therefore even important?<\/p>\n

Let’s look at an example of Old Norse:<\/p>\n

Hverir v\u00f6k\u00f0u m\u00e9r<\/em>
\n varman dreyra?<\/em>
\n segi\u00f0 m\u00e9r ok segi\u00f0 m\u00e9r,<\/em>
\n s\u00e1rt var ek leikinn ;<\/em>
\n \u00e6tlask vir\u00f0ar,<\/em>
\n ok veit Tumi,<\/em>
\n gle\u00f0r mik ok gle\u00f0r mik,<\/em>
\n Gizur vei\u00f0a.<\/em><\/p>\n

Who rose my
\nwarm blood?
\nTell me and tell me
\nI was played with evilly
\nWe aspire
\nAnd so knows Tumi
\nIt gladdens me and it gladdens me
\nTo hunt Gissur.<\/p>\n

A poem by an unknown author from the age of Sturlungs. Two men are named in it, Tumi, a powerful chieftain of the Asbirnings family\u00a0and\u00a0Gissur \u00deorvaldsson. Of the two Gissur\u00a0had the unhappy task of bringing Iceland under Norwegian crown, much against the wishes of many Icelandic nobles. Looking quickly at the poem a few things stand out – such as the words ek<\/em> and mik<\/em> (\u00e9g<\/em> and mig<\/em> in contemporary Icelandic) and the lack of -ur endings. The meanings of the words have also changed: “s\u00e1rt var ek leikinn<\/em>” would now be said, perhaps, “m\u00e9r var mis\u00feyrmt<\/em>” (= I was abused).<\/p>\n

You can listen to this song here<\/a> performed by Voces Thules.<\/p>\n

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Bj\u00f6rk bead finalized by possan at Flickr.com.<\/p><\/div>\n

Icelandic itself has changed a great deal as well. This\u00a0can be seen in f.ex old texts that at their origin used words or grammar that\u00a0either sounds odd now or is\u00a0no longer correct.<\/p>\n

Auga\u00f0 mitt og auga\u00f0 \u00feitt,<\/em>
\n \u00f3 \u00fe\u00e1 f\u00f6gru steina…<\/em><\/p>\n

(My eye and your eye, those beautiful gems…)<\/p>\n

So begins the most famous love poem of Iceland by Vatnsenda R\u00f3sa, R\u00f3sa of Vatnsendi. Yet when you hear Bj\u00f6rk’s version of the same song here<\/a>\u00a0the lyrics seem to have changed a bit:<\/p>\n

Augun m\u00edn og augun \u00fe\u00edn,<\/em>
\n \u00f3 \u00fe\u00e1 f\u00f6gru steina…<\/em><\/p>\n

(My eyes and your eyes, those beautiful gems…)<\/p>\n

It just feels more natural to Icelanders of today to speak of both eyes at the same time. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

What would happen with no language preservation attempts?\u00a0We can look at warning examples not far away, just a bit over the sea to the west… I’m talking about you, West-Icelanders (= Canadians with Icelandic roots). Here’s one stanza of Winnipeg Icelander, a hilarious poem by Guttormur Guttormsson that pokes fun at what happened to Icelandic\u00a0once it left its homeland:<\/p>\n

…A\u00f0 repeat<\/strong>a aftur eg reyndi’ ekki at all,<\/em>
\n En ran like a dog<\/strong> heim til Watkins.<\/em>
\n En \u00fear var \u00fe\u00e1 Nickie me\u00f0 hot alcohol<\/strong>.<\/em>
\n J\u00e1, hart er a\u00f0 beat<\/strong>a Nick Ottins.<\/em>
\n Hann start<\/strong>a\u00f0i singing<\/strong>, s\u00e1 s\u00f6ngur var queer<\/strong><\/em>
\n Og sound<\/strong>a\u00f0i funny, I tell you<\/strong>.<\/em>
\n Eg tend<\/strong>a\u00f0i meira hans brandy<\/strong> og beer<\/strong>,-<\/em>
\n You bet<\/strong>, Nick er liberal fellow<\/strong>…<\/em><\/p>\n

I’ve bolded the English influence. As you can see it takes over almost half of the language – although this poem being a joke the effect might be slightly\u00a0exaggerated – and that whole sentences of English get wedged in, English words are used even if there’s already an Icelandic equivalent (such as beer \/\u00a0bj\u00f3r) and English verbs get used\u00a0in an Icelandic fashion. The effect is such that this poem is, alas, untranslatable and can only be understood if you speak both languages.<\/p>\n

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I find that if you stay long enough… by Ron Mader at Flickr.com.<\/p><\/div>\n

So to answer my own question, yes, language preservation is important especially when it comes to small languages that have a creative habit of stealing everything they can. Protecting Icelandic language\u00a0is actually not as much about\u00a0shielding it\u00a0from other languages as it is about keeping Icelandic itself in check and seeing it doesn’t run rampant along the coasts again, looting everything in its way. Occasionally this fails, which is why Icelanders f.ex. eat pizza instead of flatbaka<\/em> (= flat bake, the real Icelandic word for pizza), but at least we can make it behave for the most of the time.<\/p>\n