Icelandic language: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	íslenska

Photos

Thematic map of Europe displaying the distribution of Germanic languages, with different colors indicating regions where English, German, Netherlandic (Dutch), Frisian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese are spoken. Striped areas mark regions where bilingualism is common, and language regions cover countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and parts of surrounding countries.

A family tree diagram shows the evolution of Germanic languages from Proto-Germanic, branching into West, North, and East Germanic groups. West Germanic splits into Anglo-Frisian (English, Frisian) and Netherlandic-German (Netherlandic, German). North Germanic divides into West Scandinavian (Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian) and East Scandinavian (Danish, Swedish). East Germanic is represented by Gothic.

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Topics

Icelandic literature Scandinavian languages Norwegian language Swedish language Danish language Faroese language Old Norse language

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Scandinavian languages: Introduction

Key People

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Gudbrandur Thorláksson

Icelandic bishop and scholar

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Matthías Jochumsson

Icelandic author

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Steingrímur Thorsteinsson

Icelandic poet

Hand with pencil writing on page. (handwriting; write)

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