page_title: Icelanders
section_title: Language and literature
hierarchical_section_title: Icelanders / Culture / Language and literature
caption_attribution_description: English: From the Laxdæla Saga: "Then Bolli drew Footbiter, and now turned upon Kjartan. Then Kjartan said to Bolli, 'Surely thou art minded now, my kinsman, to do a dastard's deed; but oh, my kinsman, I am much more fain to take my death from you than to cause the same to you myself.' Then Kjartan flung away his weapons and would defend himself no longer; yet he was but slightly wounded, though very tired with fighting. Bolli gave no answer to Kjartan's words, but all the same he dealt him his death-wound. And straightway Bolli sat down under the shoulders of him, and Kjartan breathed his last in the lap of Bolli." Illustration from "Vore fædres liv"&#160;: karakterer og skildringer fra sagatiden / samlet og udggivet af Nordahl Rolfsen&#160;; oversættelsen ved Gerhard Gran., Kristiania: Stenersen, 1898. English description translated from Icelandic by Muriel A C Press in 1880.
context_page_description: Icelanders are a North Germanic ethnic group and nation who are native to the island country of Iceland and speak Icelandic.
  Icelanders established the country of Iceland in mid 930 A.D. when the Althingi met for the first time. Iceland came under the reign of Norwegian, Swedish and Danish kings but regained full sovereignty and independence from the Danish monarchy on 1 December 1918, when the Kingdom of Iceland was established. On 17 June 1944, the monarchy was abolished and the Icelandic republic was founded. The language spoken is Icelandic, a North Germanic language, and Lutheranism is the predominant religion. Historical and DNA records indicate that around 60 to 80 percent of the male settlers were of Norse origin and a similar percentage of the women were of Gaelic stock from Ireland and peripheral Scotland.
context_section_description: Icelandic, a North Germanic language, is the official language of Iceland (de facto; the laws are silent about the issue). Icelandic has inflectional grammar comparable to Latin, Ancient Greek, more closely to Old English and practically identical to Old Norse.
  Old Icelandic literature can be divided into several categories. Three are best known to foreigners: Eddic poetry, skaldic poetry, and saga literature, if saga literature is understood broadly. Eddic poetry is made up of heroic and mythological poems. Poetry that praises someone is considered skaldic poetry or court poetry. Finally, saga literature is prose, ranging from pure fiction to fairly factual history.
  Written Icelandic has changed little since the 13th century. Because of this modern readers can understand the Icelanders' sagas. The sagas tell of events in Iceland in the 10th and early 11th centuries. They are considered to be the best-known pieces of Icelandic literature.
  The elder or Poetic Edda, the younger or Prose Edda, and the sagas are the major pieces of Icelandic literature. The Poetic Edda is a collection of poems and stories from the late 10th century, whereas the younger or Prose Edda is a manual of poetry that contains many stories of Norse mythology.
caption: Kjartan Ólafsson and Bolli Þorleiksson, characters in Laxdæla saga, written in the 13th century.
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