I've previously mentioned the Extreme Iceland feature on the Icelandic language.
One section of the excellent piece looks at something close to my heart: the connection between language and the landscape in terms of place name elements.
There are plenty of these, and knowing them helps you to piece together the probable characteristics of a mountain in the same way as knowing some Scottish Gaelic elements helps you appreciate why mountains are named as they are in places such as Skye.
Vik - means bay, so place names ending with this are bays. This also works in other countries such as Norway e.g. Kinsarvik - a place I remember visiting when I was younger.
Reykjavik - means 'smoky' bay - although the smoke was steam of course.
Eyjafjallajökull
A good one to start with...
Eyja - island
fjalla - hill
jökull - ice cap / glacier
More to come on this...
Image: Reykjavik from the Perlan building - Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license.
One section of the excellent piece looks at something close to my heart: the connection between language and the landscape in terms of place name elements.
There are plenty of these, and knowing them helps you to piece together the probable characteristics of a mountain in the same way as knowing some Scottish Gaelic elements helps you appreciate why mountains are named as they are in places such as Skye.
Vik - means bay, so place names ending with this are bays. This also works in other countries such as Norway e.g. Kinsarvik - a place I remember visiting when I was younger.
Reykjavik - means 'smoky' bay - although the smoke was steam of course.
Eyjafjallajökull
A good one to start with...
Eyja - island
fjalla - hill
jökull - ice cap / glacier
More to come on this...
Image: Reykjavik from the Perlan building - Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license.
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