Saga íslenskunnar

Þegar Ísland byggðist (á 9. öld) var sá hluti Norðurlanda sem nefnist Skandinavía eitt málsvæði. Tungumál þeirra þjóða sem þar byggðu voru oft nefnd dönsk tunga einu nafni. Þau greindust smám saman í mállýskur og munurinn á þeim jókst. Nú er talað um norræn mál, sem eru norska, íslenska, færeyska, danska og sænska, og þau tilheyra þeirri grein indóevrópskra mála sem kallast germönsk mál.

Söngelskir krakkar á 17. júní (Kids singing at the Independence Day 17th of June).

Fyrstu aldirnar í landinu er tæplega hægt að tala um íslensku sem sérstakt mál, þar sem mjög lítill munur var á henni og því máli sem norrænir menn töluðu í Noregi og öðrum byggðum norrænna manna. Elstu íslenskar ritheimildir, frá 12. öld, gefa til kynna að mjög lítill munur hafi þá verið á íslensku og norsku. Sá munur átti eftir að aukast á 13. og 14. öld, einkum vegna einföldunar í beygingakerfi norsku.

En breytingar hafa líka átt sér stað í íslensku. Hljóðkerfið hefur tekið töluverðum breytingum og beygingakerfið nokkrum minni háttar breytingum, þó svo að hið fornnorræna beygingakerfi hafi varðveist í íslensku í öllum meginatriðum. En það er orðaforði íslenskunnar sem mestum breytingum hefur tekið. Þær breytingar hafa einkum orðið vegna breyttra atvinnuhátta á þessari öld en erlend áhrif hafa einnig valdið þar nokkru um.

The History of the Icelandic Language

At the time Iceland was settled (in the ninth-century), that part of the north which is called Scandinavia formed one language area. The language of those who lived there was often given the one name, the Danish tongue. It gradually branched out dialectically and differences grew. Now one may speak of the Nordic languages, that is, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faeroese, Danish, and Swedish, which all belong to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language tree.

It is hardly possible to speak of Icelandic as a separate language existing during the first centuries of settlement as there was very little difference between Icelandic and the languages spoken by the Scandinavians of Norway or the other Norse settlements. The oldest Icelandic written sources (from the twelfth-century) suggest that very little difference then existed between Icelandic and Norwegian. The changes began to increase in the thirteenth- and fourteenth-centuries, especially because of the simplification of the Norwegian system of verb conjugation and noun declension.

But changes have also occurred in Icelandic. The phonological system has undergone significant changes as has, to a lesser degree, the system of inflection; although the Old Norse system has been preserved in Icelandic in all its major aspects. It is in the Icelandic vocabulary that most of the changes have taken place. These changes have occurred, in particular, because of changing work patterns during the last century, although foreign influence has also been something of a factor.

Most expressions and figures of speech have their origins in old work patterns, customs, games and sports, and habits. They may seem strange to young people who have no knowledge of the conditions of the old rural society, but they certainly embellish the nuances of the language. Many of them raise amusing images of what people once did.