Actual place names in Iceland that will leave you speechless

... in a manner of speaking

Halló og gleðilegan laugardag!*

This photo made the rounds a few years ago and it is a classic. Who says Icelandic is a tough language to learn, hm ..? 🫠

Yes, these are actual place names in Icelandic. If you know a bit about the language you may already know that we tend to splice nouns together to make one longer noun, and that is the case with most of these names here. Once you learn how to break them down they no longer seem so daunting … well, at least not for us!

Take the name of everyone’s favourite volcano, Eyjafjallajökull. It is made up of three nouns: Eyja (island), fjalla (mountains), jökull (glacier). Or, if you prefer, two nouns, since Eyjafjöll is actually a single name for the mountains that the glacier sits on top of, “island mountains”. Add to that the glacier, and you effectively get “the glacier of the island mountains”. Easy, right?

Or take the name here on the bottom left: Vatnsleysustrandarhreppur. Here we have the district (hreppur) of Vatnsleysuströnd, literally “the coast (strönd) of no water (vatnsleysa). So “the district of the coast of no water”.

If you would like to hear me read these names out loud … you have to be a paid subscriber. If you are a paid subscriber, click on the audio below.

Have a great weekend, everyone, and don’t get your tongue in a twist!

*Hello and happy Saturday