High Icelandic
Encyclopedia
Linguistic purism
Linguistic purism or linguistic protectionism is the practice of defining one variety of a language as being purer than other varieties. The ideal of purity is often opposed in reference to a perceived decline from an "ideal past" or an unwanted similarity with other languages, but sometimes simply...
started by the Belgian Jozef Braekmans, aimed at removing loan words from the modern Icelandic
Icelandic language
Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
language. Its vocabulary is described by its creator as an "ultra-purist" compilation of already existing Icelandic neologisms, and other neologisms created by Braekmans himself. It is essentially the project of a small group of people attempting to create a form of Icelandic free of foreign influence. It has received little media attention and has no official status in Iceland.
Name and symbolism
Høgnorsk
Høgnorsk, meaning "High Norwegian", is a term for varieties of the Norwegian language form Nynorsk that reject most of the official reforms that have been introduced since the creation of Landsmål...
" (High Norwegian), a conservative form of Nynorsk
Nynorsk
Nynorsk or New Norwegian is one of two official written standards for the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. The standard language was created by Ivar Aasen during the mid-19th century, to provide a Norwegian alternative to the Danish language which was commonly written in Norway at the...
. The second element "frónska" is derived from "frón", the poetic name of Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
, which was one of the names of Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
mentioned in the Prose Edda
Prose Edda
The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda or simply Edda, is an Icelandic collection of four sections interspersed with excerpts from earlier skaldic and Eddic poetry containing tales from Nordic mythology...
. Braekmans first made mention of the name on November 23, 2003 on the newsgroup
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
is.islenska. Before that date he used to refer to it as 'frónska' or 'Hyper-Icelandic'.
Braekmans has created a lot of symbolism around the language. The main facets of the symbolism are the armored egg of vitality (Brynfjöregg), the lexically immaculate mountain child (hið slettulausa fjallbarn), the Thor
Thor
In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...
's country-flag (Þórfrónsvé) and the cap of the Neologisctic skalds (nýyrðaskáldshúfa). The Brynfjöregg is equivalent to a ‘life-thread’ in Icelandic symbolism. It is a familiar motif in Icelandic folklore, where one can destroy trolls, giants, etc., by finding where their "life-egg" (fjöregg) is hidden and hurling it at them so that it hits them in the head. Many Icelanders consider their language as the ‘vital egg’ of their culture affectionately calling it ástkæra ylhýra ("beloved warmth"). The mountain child is a reference to the woman of the mountains
Woman of the mountains
The "Lady of the Mountain" is the female incarnation of Iceland. While she symbolised what Icelanders considered to be genuine and purely Icelandic, in her purity she reflected a deep-seated, but unattainable, wish of Icelanders to be a totally independent nation...
(Fjallkonan), the female incarnation of the Icelandic nation who is often portrayed on national holidays. The Þórsfrónvé is an alternate Icelandic flag with the same division of the three colours but with a stylized ‘hammer of Thor’ replacing the Crusaders’ cross. The nýyrðaskáldshúfa symbolizes the protection of the language against foreign influence.
Development
The project originated as a one-man project by Jozef Braekmans from Lier, BelgiumLier, Belgium
Lier is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the city of Lier proper and the village of Koningshooikt. On January 1, 2010 Lier had a total population of 33,930. The total area is 49.70 km² which gives a population density of 669 inhabitants per...
, alias "Timbur-Helgi Hermannsson" meaning "carpenter-saint, son of Hermann", a reference to the biblical Joseph
Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....
. He started his experiment in 1992, when he started creating native replacements for those adapted loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s that are considered as integrated parts of the Icelandic language and for which no purely Icelandic word existed. By 1998 he started to make extensive use of internet and usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
to promote his work, and in the year 2000 he created the website Nýyrðasmiðja Málþvottahús (neologistic factory 'The Language Laundry'). Because he feared that none of his neologisms would be accepted by the general public, he decided to create a strain of the language in which foreign influence would be minimalized, under the name 'Miðstöð Háfrónska Tungumálsins' or 'High Icelandic language centre' (2005). Timbur-Helgi had made himself and his life's work very unpopular on the newsgroup
Newsgroup
A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on...
is.islenska, and gave it to his successor, Pétur Þorsteinsson
Pétur Þorsteinsson
Pétur Þorsteinsson is an Icelandic neologist, youth-leader and vicar of the Óháði Söfnuðurinn or Independent Parish, a Lutheran church....
, priest of the Óháði Söfnuðurinn (Independent Parish) in Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
and a few other nýyrðaskáld (neologistic poets). Pétur Þorsteinsson is now "chief neologistic skald" (allsherjarnýyrðaskáld) of the High Icelandic language movement.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the project received some minor media attention in Iceland, but only a few people continue Braekmans' work. No reference is found in scientific publications, however.
Ultra-purism
The emphasis in High Icelandic mainly lies on málgjörhreinsun (ultrapurism), the most extreme form of linguistic purism. Again this is a personal term of the creator, signifying that everything that can be expressed by human speech is to be considered a target for puristic intervention, even proper nameProper name
"A proper name [is] a word that answers the purpose of showing what thing it is that we are talking about" writes John Stuart Mill in A System of Logic , "but not of telling anything about it"...
s, geographical names, and names of chemicals. According to Braekmans the first signs of ultrapurism go back to the neologistic excesses of the 19th century Fjölnismenn
Fjölnir (journal)
Fjölnir is an Icelandic journal which was first published in Copenhagen in 1835. The journal was used by Jónas Hallgrímsson and other Icelandic romantic nationalist poets to invoke nationalism in the hearts of the Icelandic people in the hopes of raising support for Icelandic independence....
. In their magazine Skírnir, they translated personal names like 'Robert Peel' and 'John Russell' as Hróbjartur Píll and Jón Hrísill respectively. Also geographical names were translated: Góðviðra (Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
), Sigurborg (Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, "city of victory"), Slettumannaland (Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
).
In contrast to the existing Icelandic language policy
Linguistic purism in Icelandic
Linguistic purism in Icelandic is the sociolinguistic phenomenon of linguistic purism in the Icelandic language. Its aim is to substitute loanwords with the creation of new words from Old Icelandic and Old Norse roots and prevent new loanwords entering the language. In Iceland, linguistic purism is...
, the removal of Latinism
Latinism
A Latinism is an idiom, structure, or word derived from or suggestive of the Latin language. For Latinistic words in English, see Latin influence in English....
s and Germanism
Germanism
Germanism can mean or be confused with any of the following:* German loan words and expressions in English* Pan-Germanism* Germanisation* Germanism...
s in the old language is considered a top priority.
Media coverage
The project has received some media attention in Iceland. Some Icelandic newspapers had an article about the language, the newspaper DVDV (newspaper)
DV is an Icelandic newspaper published by DV ehf. It came into existence in 1981 when two formerly independent newspapers, "Vísir" and "Dagblaðið", merged. It is published four times a week from Monday to Friday...
had a full-page interview with Braekmans concerning his language in 1999. Icelandic television channel Stöð 2
Stöð 2
Stöð 2 is an Icelandic television channel, owned and operated by 365. Founded in 1986, It was the first privately owned television station in Iceland following the lifting of the state monopoly on television broadcasting...
had a small item on the project in November 2005. Icelandic radio station Rás 1
Rás 1
Rás 1 is an Icelandic radio station belonging to and operated by Ríkisútvarpið , Iceland's national broadcasting service. Rás 1 carries primarily news, weather, current affairs coverage, and cultural programming dealing with the arts, history, the Icelandic language, literature, and social and...
has a weekly radio show, Orð skulu standa, which features uncommon Icelandic words, and has on occasion introduced High Icelandic words into the language by way of a game revolving around guessing the words' meaning.
See also
- Language ideologyLanguage ideologyIn sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, a language or linguistic ideology is a systematic construct about how particular ways of using languages carry or are invested with certain moral, religious, social, and political values, giving rise to implicit assumptions that people have about a...
- Language policyLanguage policyMany countries have a language policy designed to favour or discourage the use of a particular language or set of languages. Although nations historically have used language policies most often to promote one official language at the expense of others, many countries now have policies designed to...
- Linguistic purismLinguistic purismLinguistic purism or linguistic protectionism is the practice of defining one variety of a language as being purer than other varieties. The ideal of purity is often opposed in reference to a perceived decline from an "ideal past" or an unwanted similarity with other languages, but sometimes simply...
- Linguistic purism in IcelandicLinguistic purism in IcelandicLinguistic purism in Icelandic is the sociolinguistic phenomenon of linguistic purism in the Icelandic language. Its aim is to substitute loanwords with the creation of new words from Old Icelandic and Old Norse roots and prevent new loanwords entering the language. In Iceland, linguistic purism is...
External links
- The High Icelandic Language Centre (Háfrónska málhreyfingin)
- Icelandic equivalents of the English and Danish place-names (21.000 names)
- Website about the "Child of the Mountains" (Fjallbarnið), the incarnation of High Icelandic
- Article about Braekmans neologistic work in DV (edition: January 30, 1999), one of the four newspapers of Iceland
- Article about High Icelandic in the Fréttablaðið (eng. the newspaper), the Icelandic newspaper with the largest circulation
- A section about High Icelandic on the Icelandic news programme 'Ísland í dag' (Iceland today)
- Debate about High Icelandic on Language hat
- „Hin hreina íslenska kemur frá Belgíu!“ Article on the webzine 'djoflaeyjan.com'
- An article about High Icelandic in Birtingur, the local paper of Akranes.