mega-

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).


for-

From Old Norse for-, from Proto-Germanic *fra-.

for- + síða (“page”) → forsíða (“front page”)


mis-

From Old Norse mis- (“mis-”), from Proto-Germanic *missa- (“wrongly, badly”), from Proto-Indo-European *mitto (“mutual, reciprocal”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to replace, switch, exchange, swap”).


einka-

Borrowed from Middle Low German enkel (“single”), similar to Danish enkelt; see einn (“one”).


vara-

signifies being spare, extra or of or pertaining to an emergency

varamaður

an alternate, a deputy, a substitute, a stand-in

varasjóður

reserve fund, segregated reserve, reserve

Category of Icelandic terms prefixed with vara-


ó-

From Old Norse ó-, ú-, from Proto-Germanic *un-, from Proto-Indo-European *n̥-, a prefix use of the particle *né (“not”). In Icelandic this changed very early from ú- to ó-.
Cognate with Old English un- (English un-), Old Saxon un-, Dutch on-, Old High German un- (German un-), Swedish o-, Norwegian u, and Gothic 𐌿𐌽- (un-). The Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-), ἀν- (an-), Latin in-, and Old Irish in-.

ó- + friður (“peace”) → ófriður (“war”)

ó- + heppni (“luck”) → óheppni (“bad luck”)

ó- + þekkur (“well-behaved”) → óþekkur (“naughty”)

ó- + happ (“a stroke of luck”) → óhapp (“accident”)

ó- + samlína (“collinear”) → ósamlína (“noncollinear”)


all-

allgóður

very good (dated, synonym mjög góður); decent (contemporary meaning, synonym sæmilegur)

allvel

very well (dated, synonym mjög vel); reasonably (contemporary meaning, synonym sæmilega)

enginn er allheimskur ef þegja má

no one is completely stupid if they can hold their silence; silence is golden

Ekki allfáir viðskiptavinir.


aðal-

Inherited from Old Norse aðall, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *aþalaz. Related to Icelandic aðall (“nobility”).

aðal- + áhrif (“effect”) → aðaláhrif (“main effect”)

aðal- + bygging (“building”) → aðalbygging (“main building”)

aðal- + áhugamál (“interest, field of interest; hobbyhorse; hobby”) → aðaláhugamál (“main interest”)

aðal- + fag (“subject; field of subject”) → aðalfag (“major”)


af-

From Old Norse af-, from Proto-Germanic *aba-.


ramm-

From Old Norse rammr (“powerful, strong of body, mighty of capability; bitter of taste”), from Proto-Germanic *rammaz (“strong, overbearing”). Sometimes spelled ramr, as in hamramr.

inh

aukinn → rammaukinn

efldur → rammefldur

dýr → ramdýr

íslenskur → rammíslenskur

pólitískur → rammpólitískur

skakkur → rammskakkur

an emphatic prefix meaning extremely or strongly


ný-

new-, denoting actions or happenings occurring newly, or recently


höfuð-

höfuðhlutur

the upper part of the body, antonym; fótahlutur

lítill höfuðburður að (“to do little honour, credit”)

Svo líst mér sem lítill höfuðburður muni mér að þessu barnfóstri

Höfuðlaus herra

höfuðlaus m or f, höfuðlaust n (with out a leader or master)


öndvegis-

From öndvegis (“of a seat or place of honour”) the genitive of öndvegi (“a seat or place of honour”).

Þetta er öndvegisbjór.


tví-

From Old Norse, from Proto-Germanic *twi-, from Proto-Indo-European *dwi-, a zero-grade form of *dwóh₁ (“two”).


van-

From Old Norse van-, from Proto-Germanic *wanaz (“lacking, deficient”). Compare Old Norse vanr (“lacking, wanting”).


kas-

Derived from the noun kös (“pile, heap of fish”).

webofscience

Icelandic Web of Science: Hvað er þetta 'kas' þegar konur eru kasólettar? (“What does the kas in kasólettur mean?”)

used in specific compounds, often denoting something pile-like, spherical or pertaining to a heap of fish


sam-

Inherited from Old Norse sam- (“together, con-”).


kven-

Compare kvenmaður (“a woman”) and kvenna (“of women”), the genitive plural of kona (“a woman”).


fjöl-

From Old Norse fjǫl-, from Proto-Germanic *felu, from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (the Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek πολύς (polús), Latin plus (“more”), Ossetian фыр (fyr, “much”), Old Irish il, from whence the Welsh lliaws). Cognate with Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌿 (filu), Old High German filu (“many”) (from which the German viel came), Old Saxon filo and filu (from which veel (“much”) came), English fele (Old English fela (“many, much”)). This adjective or prefix has been lost in English and modern Danish but is frequent in Icelandic; especially as a prefix in poetry but never as an independent adjective.

fjölmenna

to crowd, meet in crowds; to become peopled


fimbul-

From Old Norse fimbul- inturn from the Proto-Germanic *fimfilaz. Compare Old English fifel ("mighty, giant, great"), German Fimmel (“an iron wedge”) (whence Czech fimol), Swedish fimmelstång (“the handle of a sledgehammer”).


ná-

From Old Norse ná, from Proto-Germanic *nēhwiz. Cognate with Old Saxon nāh, Dutch na, Old High German nāh (German nah and nahe); Swedish nära, Gothic 𐌽𐌴𐍈 (nēƕ); Old English nēah (English nigh).


hálf-

Ég er hálfsmeykur við hann.

Ég kem klukkan hálfsjö.


dá-

Það er dágóður spölur að fara héðan og upp á Esjuna.

It's a pretty long way from here to Esjan.

Ég vinn alla daga vikunnar í búðinni. Maður fær dágóðan pening þar.

I work every day of the week at the store. They pay fairly well there.


ein-

Ein-

a forliður for Icelandic personal names; Einar, Einbjörn, Einvarður


fer-

From Old Norse fer-, from Proto-Germanic *feþur-, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwr̥-, the zero-grade form of *kʷetwóres (“four”).


lang-

Þú ert langbesti bróðir minn!

Rakel kom með langbesta svarið.

Langkorna hrísgrjón.


há-

Compare the Old English hóh (“heel”), hóhsinu (“sinew of the heel”) and Nynorsk håbinda. Compare the Icelandic hæll (“a heel”).

of or pertaining to the heel or articulations of the foot (articulationes pedis)


frum-

From Old Norse frum-, from Proto-Germanic *frumô and cognate to Old English forma.


tor-

From Old Norse tor- (“hard, difficult, wrong, bad”, prefix), from Proto-Germanic *tuz- (“hard, difficult, wrong, bad”), from Proto-Indo-European *dus- (“bad, ill, difficult”).
Cognate with Faroese tor- (prefix), Norwegian Nynorsk tor- (prefix) and dialectal Swedish tor- (prefix), Old English tor- (prefix) and tō- (prefix) (whence Middle English tor, tore (prefix), toor (prefix), whence English tore (“hard, difficult, wearisome, tedious; strong, sturdy, great, massive; full, rich”) and torfer), Old High German zur- (“mis-”, prefix), and Gothic 𐍄𐌿𐌶- (tuz-, “hard, difficult”, prefix).
Compare Ancient Greek δυσ- (dus-, “bad, ill, difficult”, prefix), Sanskrit दुस्- (dus-, prefix), and Old Irish do-.

cog

with difficulty or hardship; difficult, hard

Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies


stein-

Ultimately an intensifier related to steinn (“stone”), as in calling someone "stone-deaf," or the phrase steinn óður (“stone mad”). Compare Danish sten-, Swedish sten-´, German stein-.


vell-

auðugur (“rich”) → vellauðugur (“very rich”)

ríkur (“rich”) → vellríkur (“very rich”)

heitur (“hot”) → vellheitur (“very hot”)

sjóða (“to boil”) → vellsjóða (“to boil intensely”)

(emphatic) very, intensely, immensely; adds emphasis


gervi-

imitation, artificial, synthetic, pseudo-


tvinn-

tvinnfágað fall

analytic function, complex analytic function, holomorphic function, regular analytic function

tvinnfágað mynstur

analytic structure, complex analytic structure, complex structure

tvinnfágað rúm

analytic space, complex analytic space, complex space

tvinnvíðátta

analytic manifold, complex analytic manifold, complex manifold

tvinntölugilt fall

complex function, complex-valued function

tvinntalnaslétta

Argand plane, complex number plane, Gaussian plane


stjúp-

From Old Norse stjúp-, from Proto-Germanic *steupa- (“orphaned, step-”). Cognate with the Old English stēop-, Dutch stief- and German stief-, Swedish styv-. More at step-.


sér-

From sér (“self”), with semantic shift "oneself" > "special". Compare Danish sær-.


hermi-

Compare the verb herma (“to mimic”) and the noun hermir (“a simulator”).


lýsi-

Forritið deilir skránni niður í marga búta (hver er oft um ¼ úr megabæti), býr til torrent-skrá sem inniheldur lýsigögn um bútana, skráarnafn og stærð, sem og upplýsingar um þann eða þá netþjóna sem vinna sem rekjarar.

Icelandic Web of Science: Hvernig virkar torrent? (“How do torrents work?””)

The application splits the file into segments—about one fourth of a megabyte—creates a torrent file containing metadata describing the segments, filename and size along with information about the trackers.


jafn-

Ég veit ekki af hverju fólk borgar svona mikið fyrir fínan mat — mér finnst þetta alveg jafngott.

I don't know why people dish out so much cash for fancy food—this tastes just as good.


Há-

Dominantly derived from the adjective hár (“high, reaching high up”), occasionally derived from the term höð as in Háleikur.


reikni-

reikniaðgerð

algebraic operation, law of composition, operation

reiknigrind

abacus, calculating frame, counting frame

reikniregla

calculating rule, computing rule, rule of arithmetic

reiknivísi

calculus, differential and integral calculus


stór-

stór- + -höfðun (“-cephaly”) → stórhöfðun (“macrocephaly”)

stór- + sameind (“a molecule”) → stórsameind (“a macromolecule”)


nanó-

Borrowed from Latin nānus (“dwarf”), from Ancient Greek νᾶνος (nânos).

nanó- + metri → nanómetri


kíló-

Borrowed from French kilo-, from Ancient Greek χίλιοι (khílioi, “one thousand”).


ör-

From Old Norse ør- (“out-”), related to ór (“out of”).


gíga-

From Ancient Greek γίγας (gígas, “giant”).


míkró-

From Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”).