text: why is greenland green, when there is no greenery over there?   because when the vikings compared it to iceland it was green it is a relative measure the name greenland comes from scandinavian settlers. in the norse sagas, it is said that erik the red was exiled from iceland for murder. he, along with his extended family and thralls, set out in ships to find the land that was rumored to be to the northwest. after settling there, he named the land grønland ("greenland"), possibly in order to attract more people to settle there. greenland was also called gruntland ("ground-land") on early maps. whether green is an erroneous transcription of grunt ("ground"), which refers to shallow bays, or vice versa, is not known. it should also be noted, however, that the southern portion of greenland (not covered by glacier) is indeed very green in the summer, and the area likely had even more green vegetation in the medieval warm period when the name was given.