Linguistic purism in Icelandic

A page of Heimskringla

The first signs of the Icelanders' pre-occupation with their mother tongue date back to the mid-12th century with the First Grammatical Treatise (Fyrsta málfræðiritgerðin), which undertook to design an alphabet for the language and proposed separate (non-Latin) letters for the distinctive Icelandic phonemes. It was, in a way, an attempt to give the young Icelandic people a language of their own. Also significant was the Icelandic historiography, which started at an early date with Ari Þorgilsson's Íslendingabók and ranged through the Landnámabók (book of colonization) to Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla. In particular, the prose of the sagas of the Icelanders and Snorri's skaldic poetry are clear signs of appreciation of the native language.

By 1300, after the Icelanders had joined in union with the Norwegian crown, Icelandic had developed several characteristics that distinguished it from the dialects of the Norwegian districts from where many had migrated to Iceland centuries earlier.

By the 16th century, the language was so differentiated from the languages spoken in Scandinavia that Icelanders coined the term íslenska to denote their native tongue. A serious effort to preserve the now quite distinct Icelandic from the "corrupting" influences of foreign words, especially by the Danish and German merchants who dominated Iceland's trade, began in the early 17th century thanks to Arngrímur Jónsson.

The first real instigator of Icelandic linguistic purism (hreintungustefna) was Eggert Ólafsson (1726–68). Between 1752 and 1757 he accompanied his friend Bjarni Pálsson on an expedition through Iceland. In his report, he described the situation of the Icelandic language as lamentable. This inspired him to write the poem Sótt og dauði íslenskunnar, in which he personifies his mother tongue as a woman, who has fallen mortally ill through an infection with too many foreign words. She sends her children to look for good and pure Icelandic that can cure her, but uncontaminated language is nowhere to be found, and she dies. At the end of the poem he urges his compatriots to defend their language and reminds them of the great esteem in which Icelandic is held abroad and how well it has been preserved by their forefathers.

Eggert Ólafsson was very well-read in Old Icelandic literature and this was noticeable in his writings. This interest in the old language brought him into contact with other Icelandic students in Copenhagen, where he joined a secret society called Sakir (1720–72). This was the beginning of the use of Old Icelandic as a key feature in the Icelandic national awakening. Eggert wrote the first orthographical dictionary (Réttritabók Eggerts Ólafssonar) in which he proposed orthographic and phonetic rules. The influence of the book was considerable, and Ólafur Olavius, originator of the Hrappseyjarprentsmiðja, the first privately owned printing shop in Iceland, followed Eggert's rules to a significant extent.

Eleven years after Eggert's death, the Íslenska lærdómslistafélag (Icelandic Art-Learning Society) was founded in Copenhagen with Jón Eiríksson, administrative director at the Danish Ministry of Finance, as its president. The society published annual writings from 1781 to 1796, which dealt with practical subjects like trade and business, but also with varied scientific topics about which little had been read until then. This brought along a flood of new Icelandic terminology, generated from purely Icelandic lexical stock.

In Denmark, the rise of Romanticism brought with it a greater interest in Norse mythology. This opened the eyes of Icelanders with regard to their cultural importance and increased their self-confidence. The Danish linguist Rasmus Rask (1787–1832) learnt Icelandic in his youth and it became his favorite language. He compiled the first real Icelandic grammar, which was a huge step forward in comparison with earlier attempts. He refused to accept the differences between Old and Modern Icelandic and was afraid that a too great difference between the two would decrease the interest in the land and its culture. This attitude promoted language archaisation. On Rask's initiative the Icelandic Literary Society, Hið íslenska bókmenntafélagið, was founded. Its goal was "to preserve the Icelandic language and literature and therewith the culture and the honour of the land". An important publication was Almenn jarðarfræða og landaskipun eður geographia (1821–27), which contains much new genuine Icelandic terminology. It was an opportunity to demonstrate the validity of Rasmus Rask's vision that the Icelandic language had, more than most languages, an "endless neologistic generating capability".

During the 19th century, the linguistic purism movement is inextricably connected with the magazine Fjölnir (published from 1835 to 1839 and from 1844 to 1847). The magazine was published in Copenhagen by four young Icelanders: Konráð Gíslason, Jónas Hallgrímsson, Brynjólfur Pétursson and Tómas Sæmundsson. The most important of these four was Jónas Hallgrímsson, who also translated literary work of Heine and Ossian. His translation of a textbook on astronomy (Stjörnufræði, 1842) became exemplary for later translations of scientific literature. Many of the neologisms he coined have become an integral part of present-day Icelandic terminology: aðdráttarafl (gravity), hitabelti (tropics), sjónauki (telescope), samhliða (parallel).

Konráð Gíslason (1808–91), professor in Old Scandinavian languages at the University of Copenhagen, published the first Danish–Icelandic dictionary in 1851.

When sovereignty was achieved in 1918, government regulation of language matters began. Initially, as with some other preservation attempts noted above, the focus was on orthography, but regulation of language matters grew steadily and became more formalised. Early in the 20th century, the third element in Icelandic preservation, ordinary speakers, especially those in modernising sectors, also began to contribute to language preservation efforts. For instance, in 1918 the Association of Engineers (Verkfræðingafélagið) began a systematic approach to neologisms. In 1951, a Dictionary Committee of the University of Iceland (Orðabókarnefnd Háskólans) began publishing lists of new words, marking the beginning of formal government sponsorship of neologisms.

In 1965, a ministerial decree of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (Menntamálaráðuneytið) established the Íslensk málnefnd (Icelandic Language Committee) to "guide government agencies and the general public in matters of language on a scholarly basis". But this group only had three members and simply could not keep up with the task it was given, even after the addition of two more members in 1980. To remedy this situation, in 1984 the Althing passed legislation which ratified the five person membership and also established a permanently functioning secretariat, the Íslensk málstöð (Icelandic Language Institute). The Council was enlarged to 15 members in 1990, appointed by and from a number of sectors. Thus, the Council paralleled its counterparts elsewhere in Scandinavia.

Day-to-day operations are the province of the Institute. Occupying a suite of offices on Neshagi, a street near the University, and previously the site of the American Embassy's cultural center, the Institute today is headed by Ari Páll Kristinsson and has only four employees who give advice on language and usage matters to public authorities and the broadcasting service (Ríkisútvarpið) and answer questions from the general population. In September 2006, the Institute was merged into the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies.