I don't know if the house Dunga still stands in the #FaroeIslands (nor do I know where it was located). It was where the #Icelandic artist Karl Einarsson (1897-1972) grew up and was the basis of his last name (Carolus Africanus Einarsson Dunganon). You might also know him as Cormorant XII Imperator of Atlantis, duke of St Kilda. The last title was the one that stuck for Icelanders who have a soft spot for the #Hebrides (Suðureyjar) in general and #StKilda in particular.

https://grapevine.is/mag/articles/2014/07/10/the-last-emperor-of-atlantis-was-an-icelander-1/

Back when #Icelandic publishers were getting started with #ebooks I warned them that the only way to combat #Amazon was by selling their stuff without #DRM and thus be able to reach #Kindle owners.

They decided to go with #Adobe DRM which mostly served to confuse customers who came to the conclusion that buying Icelandic ebooks was just too complicated. A few years later the publishers gave up on DRM but the damage was done.

I was playing with my #BooxTabUltraC #ColorEInk tablet and decided to try the Notes app and then had the app try to transcribe what I had written.

Since my handwriting is quite bad I did not expect much but it mostly succeeded as in this case:

>There are more things in
> Heaven and Earth than are
> dreamt of in your philosophy
> Horatio.

> Life is a tale, told by an
> idiot, full of sound and fury,
> signifying... nothing.

It can't do #Icelandic though.

I would love to opt-out of #MachineTranslation for stuff I write in #Icelandic. It simply doesn't work. For larger languages it makes frequent mistakes. For smaller languages it can garble the meaning completely. It has no sense of nuance, subtlety or humor.

It is alarming how many people think they can just #AutoTranslate anything.

I've come across extremely weird stuff while reading the Sagas. One of the most perplexing of these is a name that pops up in Sturlunga Saga.

> Ólafur Höskuldarson chaim

Why is he called chaim? No one knows.

For modern eyes it looks Hebrew but was that the intent?

It is almost certain that this was a real person. Unlike the Sagas which deal with the Settlement of Iceland, Sturlunga is near contemporary.

#IcelandicSagas #Sagas #Hebrew #Icelandic

[continued]

While it was wonderful to handle letters by #JRRTolkien, they do not give much insight into his #fantasy writing. In fact the subject of most of the letters is Tolkien the status of #Icelandic or #OldNorse literature, especially the #Sagas at #Oxford.

I have attached a fraction which gives an idea about the nature of these letters.

#Tolkien

When I worked at the National and University Library of Iceland I found out that there were letters from #JRRTolkien to an #Icelandic scholar named Sigurður Nordal.

At the end of one letter the #Fantasy author wrote:

Rögnvaldur Tolkien.

Rögnvaldur is a traditional Icelandic (and #OldNorse) name. It means something like "the power of the gods". Rögn = Gods
Vald/ur = Power/Person in power

#Tolkien

An #Icelandic saying for being surprised is "I come from the mountains".
In other news I seem to have sold my apartment (and bought a new one). My wife is on a walking tour but she left papers that allowed me to accept on her behalf.
I haven't manage to give her the news since she there is no coverage where she is. But, when she comes from the mountains ...

Recommended #opensource #offline #translation #addon: #FirefoxTranslations

Why? - Decent in-place, offline translation for web pages · Also works in #LibreWolf · Supports #Spanish #Estonian #English #German #Czech #Bulgarian #Portuguese #Italian #French #Polish · Experimental #Russian #Persian (Farsi) #Icelandic #Norwegian (Nynorsk, Bokmål) #Ukrainian #Dutch · Downloads language models upon first use

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-translations/

More recommendations: https://tuxwise.net/recommended-software/

There is no "Mount Skaptar". The #Icelandic name for the #eruption is Skaftáreldar, literally the Fires of/at/by the river Skaftá (Skaptá is an older spelling and the suffix -á means it is a river). Skaftá went dry because it was overrun by the lavaflow which I think is the reason for the name.

@History_of_Geology

♬〜 Sigvaldi Kaldalóns - Ave María (Arr. Víkingur Ólafsson) - Upright Piano 💿Kaldalóns: Ave María (Arr. Víkingur Ólafsson)
#Composer #Icelandic #ModernClassical #NowPlaying

♬〜 Eydís Evensen - Brotin 💿Brotin
#Instrumental #Piano #ContemporaryClassical #Icelandic #Iceland #NowPlaying

♬〜 Víkingur Ólafsson - Reflection 💿Reflections Pt. 1 / Debussy: Bruyères
#IcelandicPianist #Classical #Piano #Icelandic #Instrumental #NowPlaying

#NowPlaying 🤘🏻

🎸 Sólstafir - Fjara
#icelandic #Post-BlackMetal

https://www.last.fm/music/s%25c3%25b3lstafir/_/fjara

Great concert of Sigur Ros yesterday night in Mantova, Italy. The setting, the huge medieval piazza Sordello, was amazing in the Icelandic light and music. Thank you guys! 😀 #sigurros #music #enjoylife #icelandic #rock #ambient @sigurros

#Icelandic #volcano erupts near capital

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/iceland-sees-small-volcano-eruption-reykjanes-peninsula-near-capital-2023-07-10/

I just backed GRYLU SKER - An Icelandic Ghost Story Puppet Film by Kevin McTurk.

" Director Kevin McTurk returns with a gothic tale of a lost explorer told with groundbreaking live action puppetry & practical effects."

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/935772123/grylu-sker-an-icelandic-ghost-story-puppet-film

#Kickstarter #ShortFilm #Puppeteering #Puppets #Folklore #GhostStories #Iceland #Icelandic #Ghosts #Crowdfunding

Loving Ólafur Arnalds' gentle #Icelandic #music this cool morning 🥰
https://soundcloud.com/olafur-arnalds?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

@bodhipaksa
Thank you for the #language lesson! It is interesting that they honor three different warrior gods. Sun and Moon can also refer to deities, so I suppose Bath Day is the oddball, but arguably as important as the deities! I had thought the Icelanders were recreationally-minded when they named "laugardagur" (swimming day). I see now it can also refer to bathing.
#Danish #Icelandic

Oh! I learned the #Icelandic word for “cheers” yesterday! Soon I’ll be saying #skal from the land of 🌋 and ❄️! #Travel #Iceland