Learning More Words for "Wind"

Það var hvass og regn beint í fimm dögum (There’s been wind and rain for five days straight)

And when I say wind, I mean knock-you-off-your-feet blasts. Last Thursday the Icelandic weather service apparently issued a gale warning telling people to stay indoors. I didn’t get that memo. I really wondered why I only saw a few people on the streets as I walked back from rehearsal! The usually 25-minute walk took almost twice as long because I was walking against the wind and occasionally it forced me into reverse despite my best efforts!

The thing about being in full-time classes is that it’s quite easy to spend the whole week with your nose in a book (especially when the weather is as dismal as it’s been lately) and never get out to do anything worth reporting on. However, I have two reasons to post this week.


First, I have an assignment from the foundation that gave me the scholarship to come here. I’ve been conscripted as a recruiter! I should perhaps explain how this happened. The Leifur Eiríksson Foundation board met last Friday with two current scholarship recipients (myself and an engineer), to discuss the program. We reported on our research (good thing I’d started thinking about my thesis already!), then told them how much we like Iceland and how much we appreciate the grant. Immediately, they said, “Great: now go forth and bring in more applicants!”







To seal the deal, they invited us to a swanky dinner at the Hótel Holt the next night. I had been fooled by the hideous pink neon sign over the building into assuming it was one of those cheap Vegas-y casino joints, but once I got past the glitz and went inside, it was an incredible black-tie sort of place. The food, by the bye, was fancy and artistic, but I think it says something about the Icelandic diet that in four courses the only vegetables to be had were two boiled baby carrots that accompanied the lamb like a garnish!



Now, to sing for my supper: the Leifur Eiríksson Foundation scholarship program is only a few years old, but it’s a wonderful opportunity to get over to Iceland and do research! Any graduate students out there who might benefit from spending a year in Iceland, no matter your discipline, please check it out and apply! They’ve had everything from medievalists to geologists to artists to writers. Let old Leif inspire you to spend some quality time in the land of the Vikings! Here’s the link to the organization’s web page: http://www.leifureirikssonfoundation.org/








The second reason I wanted to post this week is that I realized that among the people reading my blog (all two of you?), there may be some who have never heard a word of spoken Icelandic. So I recorded informally a cute little nursery rhyme from the 17th or 18th century. It doesn’t demonstrate any of the Icelandic peculiarities of orthography (þ and ð for ‘th,’ æ for the ‘i’ of bite, etc.), but nevertheless it gives you the feel of the language, which is really quite lovely. Just excuse my terrible American accent.

Here is the poem, and the recording follows:

Hani, krummi, hundur, svín,
Hestur, mús, tittlingur;
Galar, krunkar, geltir, hrín,
Gneggjar, tístir, syngur.

(Rooster, raven, dog, pig,
Horse, mouse, bunting;
Crows, caws, barks, squeals,
Neighs, squeaks, sings.)