Icelandic alphabet

The modern Icelandic alphabet consists of the following 32 letters:

Eth	Thorn
A handwriting extract; the special Icelandic letters ð, þ, and í are visible

It is a Latin alphabet with diacritics, in addition it includes the letter eth Ðð, transliterated to d, and the runic letter thorn Þþ, transliterated to th, (pictured to the right). They are called séríslenskur (“specifically Icelandic, uniquely Icelandic” although they aren't, at least not the eth). Icelandic words never start with ð, which means the capital version Ð is mainly just used when words are spelled using all capitals. Ææ and Öö are considered letters in their own right and not a ligature or diacritical version of their respective letters.

Sometimes the glyphs are simplified when handwritten, for example the æ (considered a separate letter, originally a ligature) may be written as ae, which can make it easier to write cursively.

History

The modern Icelandic alphabet has developed from a standard established in the 19th century, by the Danish linguist Rasmus Rask primarily. It is ultimately based heavily on an orthographic standard created in the early 12th century by a document referred to as The First Grammatical Treatise, author unknown. The standard was intended for the common North Germanic language, Old Norse. It did not have much influence, however, at the time.

The most defining characteristics of the alphabet were established in the old treatise:

• Use of the acute accent (originally to signify vowel length).
• Use of þ, also used in the Old English alphabet as the letter thorn.

The later Rasmus Rask standard was basically a re-enactment of the old treatise, with some changes to fit concurrent North Germanic conventions, such as the exclusive use of k rather than c. Various old features, like ð, had actually not seen much use in the later centuries, so Rask's standard constituted a major change in practice.

Later 20th century changes are most notably the adoption of é, which had previously been written as je (reflecting the modern pronunciation), and the abolition of z in 1973.^[1]

Letter names

The names of the letters are:

Deleted letter

Notes

	Icelandic alphabet An Icelandic speaker reciting the alphabet in Icelandic
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The letters a, á, e, é, i, í, o, ó, u, ú, y, ý, æ and ö are considered vowels, and the remainder are consonants.

The letters C (sé, [sjɛ]), Q (kú, [kʰu]) and W (tvöfalt vaff, [ˈtʰvœfal̥t ˌvafː]) are only used in Icelandic in words of foreign origin and some proper names that are also of foreign origin. Otherwise, c, qu, and w are substituted with k/s/ts, hv, and v respectively. (And in fact, hv is a direct cognate of Latin qu and English "wh": Icelandic hvað, Latin quod, English "what".)

The letter Z (seta, [ˈsɛta]) was used until 1973, when it was abolished, as it was only an etymological detail. However, one of the most important newspapers in Iceland, Morgunblaðið, still uses it sometimes (although very rarely), and a secondary school, Verzlunarskóli Íslands has it in its name. It is also found in some proper names of people. Older people, who were educated before the abolition of the z sometimes also use it.

Letter frequencies

The list below shows the letter frequencies in order of descending frequency.^[2]

See also

v t e Icelandic language Features Alphabet Braille Grammar Orthography N-rule Phonology Vocabulary Names Patronymic names Street names List of exonyms History and literature History Old Icelandic Literature Proverbs Sagas Poetic Edda Skaldic poetry Promotion and purism Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies Icelandic Language Day Icelandic Language Council Icelandic Language Fund Icelandic Language Institute Icelandic Naming Committee Linguistic purism Related topics Icelandic Sign Language

References

• http://www.ielanguages.com/icelandic.html used as source for pronunciation descriptions

External links

• (Icelandic) „Íslenska, í senn forn og ný“.