History of the icelandic language

The Language of Iceland:

Icelandic is an Insular Nordic language that belongs to the huge group of North Germanic languages. Like other North Germanic languages, it also descended from Old Norse. It is the official language of Iceland and has 358,000 native speakers according to a study conducted in 2013. Although only 0.005% of the Earth’s total population speak this lexicon, it does attract linguistics’ attention due to its interesting history. The most fascinating thing about it is that it has remained, more or less, unchanged from medieval times. The country takes necessary measures to keep the native tongue free of variations. In order to keep the vernacular pure and free of loanwords, the country has created a committee tasked with creating Icelandic words for new things and objects like iPhones.

Vikings were not only the ones who settled in Iceland but also the people who brought their language to this land. Their Old Norse evolved into Icelandic and has remained in this land since then with only a few changes. Before it was saved in written form, it thrived mainly in the form of songs, poems, and stories. This form of oral culture kept it alive in people’s hearts by associating it with interesting stories and melodious songs. The oldest texts in this vernacular that were preserved dates back to the year 1100. Icelandic Sagas is the most famous ancient texts of this language. They were written in the 12th century and can still be read by native speakers due to there being minimum changes in the language. Although the Danish-ruled over this land from 1380 to 1918, their language never affected Icelandic. The same can be said for the British and later American occupation of the country during the second world war when English failed to influence the native language. The native speakers of the language have been making up new words since 1800 to avoid borrowing words from other languages.