#28: Hreindýr

To build upon yesterday's entry on Christmas, today I want to talk about reindeer. You'd be forgiven for thinking that the English word is simply a compound of "rein" and "deer;" after all, they are a type of deer and you can strap reins to them a la Santa Claus. But it turns out that this isn't the case at all. Instead, the word reindeer has Nordic roots, just like its Icelandic cognate hreindýr.

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#27: Jól

I thought it might be nice to follow up yesterday's somber post with a happier one, so today I'm going to talk about the Icelandic word jól. It's a seasonal word that is absolutely everywhere in Iceland at the moment, and that's because it means "Christmas." With only 10 days left to buy all of the gifts, cook all of the food, and mentally prepare to deal with your extended family, now seems like a good time to talk about all things jól.

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#26: Ártíð

What is the opposite of a birthday? Not all cultures celebrate birthdays to the same extent that we do in America, but most languages at least have a word or phrase that means "the anniversary of one's birth." However, it is a curious phenomenon that many of those languages do not have a corresponding word to denote the anniversary of one's death. Icelandic, though, does have such a word-- ártíð.

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#25: Að Poppa

Today's entry is going to be a quick one, because I'm in the process of finishing up some of my graduate school applications! The word that I've chosen is fun to say, and useful if you're a habitual snacker, but I don't have very many insightful remarks to make about it. It's að poppa, and it's a verb that specifically means "to make popcorn."

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#24: Rafmagn

Today's word describes something that people use all the time-- not just in Iceland, but in most parts of the world. It's rafmagn, which literally means "amber power." But you may know it better as electricty.

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#23: Þáttur

Often, learning new vocabulary is a simple matter of memorization and retention: all you really need to know is hundur means "dog," köttur means "cat," et cetera. But when you encounter a word that has numerous different meanings, things can get a little tricky. Today's word is one of those-- it's þáttur, and it basically means "part," but it also has a large handful of situation-specific uses which I'll touch on here (skip to the end if you want a quick summary of them).

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#22: Peysa

Today's word is one that should come in handy now that winter is on the horizon... even if, so far, this month has been underwhelmingly warm. It's peysa, and it means "sweater" (or "jumper" for those of you overseas).

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