Words at the Icelandic table
Icelandic kept two letters the rest of Europe dropped, and prefers to coin its kitchen words rather than borrow them. Both make the menu look stranger than it is.
How to read it
- þ
- The voiceless th in „thing“.
- ð
- The voiced th in „this“ — never at the start of a word.
- ll
- Sounds like „tl“: „bollur“ is „bot-lur“.
- au
- Not „ow“ but roughly „oy“.
- Stress
- Always on the first syllable.
At the restaurant
| Isländisch | Say it like | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| afsakið | af-sa-kith | Excuse me. This is how you get attention. |
| get ég fengið matseðilinn? | get yeh fayng-ith mat-seth-il-in | Could I have the menu? |
| hverju mælir þú með? | kver-yoo my-lir thoo meth | What do you recommend? |
| reikninginn, takk | rake-ning-in tahk | The bill, please. |
| þetta var mjög gott | thet-ta var myugh got | That was very good. |
| verði þér að góðu | ver-thi thyer ath goh-thoo | Enjoy your meal — and also the reply to thanks for the food. |
Ingredients
| Isländisch | Say it like | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| skyr | skeer | Not a yoghurt but a fresh cheese: soured skimmed milk, strained — the same method since the settlement. |
| harðfiskur | harth-fisk-ur | Wind-dried fish, torn into fibres and eaten with butter. Iceland's travelling food for a thousand years. |
| lambakjöt | lam-ba-kyurt | Lamb from animals that spent the summer free in the highlands — hence the taste of herbs and moss. |
| rúgbrauð | roog-broyth | Dark, sweetish rye bread. In the hot areas it is traditionally baked in the ground, where the earth is warm by itself. |
| bleikja | blake-ya | Arctic char from the glacial rivers — the fish you eat when you are not eating salmon. |
In the kitchen
| Isländisch | Say it like | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| súpa | soo-pa | Soup. kjötsúpa is the lamb soup with root vegetables, the Sunday meal. |
| pottréttur | pot-ryet-tur | A stew, literally „pot dish“ — everything in one pot, long over a low flame. |
| bollur | bot-lur | Balls or buns, depending on the compound: fiskibollur are fish balls, bolludagur is the day of cream buns. |
| reyktur | rake-tur | Smoked. hangikjöt — „hung meat“ — is smoked lamb, the Christmas meal. |
| grafinn | gra-vin | Cured, literally „buried“ — the same root as in Swedish gravad. |