12/06/13 Icelandic alphabet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Icelandic alphabet
Fr
omWi
ki
ped
ia,
thef
reee
ncy
clo
ped
ia

Th
emode
rnIcelandic alphabet c
ons
is
tsoft
hef
ol
lowi
ng32l
et
te
rs:

Majuscule Forms (
al
soc
all
eduppercase orcapital letters)
A B D E F G H I JK L M N O P R S T U V X Y
Minuscule Forms (
al
soc
all
edlowercase orsmall letters)
a b d e f g h i j k lm n o p r s t u v x y

I
tisaLati
na l
phabetwit
hd i
acri
ti
cs,ina ddit
ionitincl
udes
t
hecharact
eret
h a ndtheruni
cle tt
erthorn ( pi
c t
ure
d
t
otherig
ht)th
atareconsi
deredsrslenskur (
s peci
fi
cal
ly
Et
h
I
cela
ndic,un
ique
lyIcel
andi
c).Ice
la ndi
cwo r
dsn ev
erstar
t
Thor
n
wi
th,wh i
chme a
nsthec a
pit
a l
version i shardlyever
us
ed. a nd areconsi
deredle t
tersinthei
rownr i
ght
an
dn otali
gat
ureord i
acr
it
ica
l ve
rsiono fthei
rre spect
ive
l
et
ters
.

Oft
enthegl
yph
saresi
mpli
fi
edwhenhan
dwrit
te
n,for
exa
mpleth
eli
gat
ure (
consi
der
edasepar
atel
ett
er)ma
y
bewri
tt
enasae,whi
chcanmakeite
asi
ert
owr i
te
cur
si
vel
y.

Ah andwr
it
ingext
ract
;thes
peci
alI
cel
andi
cle
tte
rs
,,andarevi
si
ble
Contents
1Hi
st
ory
2Le
tt
ernames
2.
1De l
et
edlet
t
er
2.
2Notes
3Le
tt
erfr
equen
cie
s
4Se
ea l
so
5Ref
ere
nces
6Ex
ter
nall
i
nks

History
Themo de
rnI
cel
andical
phabe
thasd e
vel
op edf romas t
andarde st
ablishedinth
e19t hcen
tur
y,byth
eDa ni
sh
l
ing
uis
t Ra
smusRaskpri
mari
ly
.Itisul
ti
matel
yba sedhea
vil
yona north ogr
aphi
cs t
andar
dc r
eat
edintheear
ly12th
cent
urybyadocu
me ntr
efe
rre
dtoa sThe First Grammatical Treatise,aut
horunknown.Thest
andardwas
i
nten
de df
ort
hecommo nla
nguageofScandinav i
a,al
i
asOldNor se.Itdidnothavemu chin
fl
uenc
e,however,a
tthe
t
ime.
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12/06/13 Icelandic alphabet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Th
emos
tde
fi
ni
ngc
har
act
er
is
ti
csoft
hea
lph
abe
twe
ree
sta
bli
she
dint
heol
dtr
eat
i
se:

Us
eofth
eacut
eacc
ent(
ori
gi
nal
l
ytosi
gni
f
yv owell
eng
th)
.
Us
eof,al
sous
edi
ntheOldEng
li
sha
lpha
be ta
sthel
ett
ert
hor
n.

Thela
terRas
musRasks
tandar
dwa sba
sic
all
yare-enac
tme n
tofth
eoldtrea
ti
se,wit
hsomecha
ngestofi
t
conc
urren
tNort
hGerma
nicconve
nti
ons
,suchastheexcl
usi
veuseofk r
ath
erthanc.Var
iou
sol
dfeatur
es,l
i
ke,
hadact
ual
lyn
otsee
nmuchuseinth
elat
ercent
uri
es,s
oRa sk'
ssta
ndardconst
it
ute
dama j
orcha
ngeinpract
i
ce.

Lat
er20t
hcen
tur
ychang
esar
emostnot
abl
ytheadopt
ionof,wh
ichh
adpr
evi
ous
lybe
enwr
it
te
nasje (
ref
l
ect
i
ng
t
hemodernp
ronun
cia
ti
on)
,an
dth
ea bol
i
ti
onofz i
n1973.[
1]

Letter names
Th
ena
mesoft
hel
et
te
rsa
re:

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12/06/13 Icelandic alphabet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Letter Name IPA Typical sound value

Aa a [
a] be
twe
enEn
gli
sh"
fat
her
"an
d"c
at"
[
au] t
he"
ow"i
n"c
ow"
Bb b [
pj] "
p"wi
t
hnopu
ffofa
ir
.
Dd d [
t]
j "
t"wi
t
hnopu
ffofa
ir
.
e
[ ] t
he"
th"i
n"t
he"(
al
way
sme
dia
ll
y,n
oti
ni
ti
al
ly
).
Ee e ]
[ "
eh"l
i
ket
he"
e"i
n"e
nd"
[
j] as
hor
te
rsou
ndi
ng"
yea
h"
Ff e
ff f
[ ] (
samea
sinEn
gli
shs
ome
ti
mes
,se
enot
es)
Gg g
[
c] (
samea
sinEn
gli
shs
ome
ti
mes
,se
enot
es)
Hh h
[
hau] (
samea
sEn
gli
sh)
I
i i ]
[ t
he"
i"i
n"wi
n"

[
i] t
he"
e"i
n"we
"
J
j j
o [
j ] s
aida
sa"
y"ora
nas
pir
ate
d"y
"(s
een
ote
s)
Kk k [
kau] "
k"wi
t
hapu
ffofa
ir
.
Ll e
ll [t
l] (
samea
sinEn
gli
sh)
Mm e
mm m]
[ (
samea
sinEn
gli
sh)
Nn e
nn n
[ ] (
samea
sinEn
gli
sh)
Oo o ]
[ t
he"
ou"i
n"f
our
"(Br
it
i
shEn
gli
sh)
[
ou] "
oh"
Pp p [
pj
] "
p"wi
t
hapu
ffofa
ir
.
Rr e
rr r
[ ] r
oll
ed,
asi
nSpa
nis
h,bu
tsl
i
ght
l
ymor
ede
li
cat
el
y
Ss e
ss s
[ ] a
lwa
ysa
nun
voi
ced"
s"n
eve
rav
oic
ed"
z"s
oun
d
Tt t
[
tj
] "
t"wi
t
hapu
ffofa
ir
.
Uu u ]
[ "
i"i
n"i
n"bu
trou
nde
d.
[
u] l
i
ket
he"
ou"i
n"y
ou"
Vv v
aff [
va]
f s
imi
l
art
oEn
gli
sh"
v"
Xx e
x x
[ s
] l
i
ket
heh
ardGe
rma
n"c
h"f
ol
lowe
dbya
ns
Yy y
psi
l
o f
ny [ l
sn] s
amea
s"i
"
y
psi
l
o f
n [ l
sni
] s
amea
s"
"
or
n [
r
tn]"
th"a
sin"
thi
ng"(
common
lyi
ni
ti
al
ly
,wi
t
hsomee
xce
pti
ons
)
[
ai] "
eye
"
[
] "
e"i
n"e
nd"bu
trou
nde
d,f
romt
hemi
ddl
eoft
hemou
th

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12/06/13 Icelandic alphabet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Deleted letter

Letter Name IPA Typical sound value

Zz s
eta [
st
a] l
i
keEn
gli
shs,bu
tne
verl
i
kez

Notes

Th
ele
tt
ersa,
,e,,i,,o,
,u,,y,,a
nd a
rec
ons
ide
redv
owe
ls,a
ndt
her
ema
inde
rar
econ
son
ant
s.

Thelet
te
rsC( s,[sj] )
,Q( k,[ku]
)andW (tvfalt vaff,[ tv f
alt v af)]
areonl
yu se
di nIce
landi
cin
wordsoffo
rei
g norigina nds omepr opernamesthatarea l
s ooffor
ei
gnori
gi
n.Otherwi
se,c, qu, an
dw are
su
bsti
tut
edwithk/s/ts, hv, a
n dv r
e s
pecti
vel
y.(Andinf act,hv i
sadir
ectc
ognateofLat
inqu a n dEngl
i
sh"wh":
Ic
ela
ndichva, Lati
nquod,En gli
sh"what"
.)

Thelet
terZ(seta,s
[ t
a])wasuse
du n
til
197 3,wh enitwa sabol
is
hed,a sitwasonlyanety
mol og
ica
ldeta
il
.
Howe ve
r,oneo ft
hemo sti
mport
antnewspape r
sinIceland,Morgunblai,s t
il
lus
esits
ome t
imes(al
th
oughvery
ra
rely
),andas econdar
yschool
,Verz
lunar
sklisl
andsh asiti
nit
sname .Itisal
sofoundi
ns omepropernamesof
peopl
e.Olderp eopl
e,whowe r
eeducat
edbe forethea bol
it
ionoft
hez some t
i
me sal
sousei
t.

Letter frequencies
Th
eli
stbe
lows
howst
hel
et
te
rfr
equ
enc
iesi
nor
derofde
sce
ndi
ngf
requ
enc
y.[
2]

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12/06/13 Icelandic alphabet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Letter Frequency
a 10.
11%
r 8.
58%
n 7.
71%
i 7.
58%
e 6.
42%
s 5.
63%
t 4.
95%
u 4.
56%
l 4.
53%
4.
39%
g 4.
24%
m 4.
04%
k 3.
31%
f 3.
01%
v 2.
44%
o 2.
17%
h 1.
87%
1.
8%
d 1.
58%
1.
57%
1.
45%
j 1.
14%
b 1.
04%
0.
99%
y 0.
9%
0.
87%
p 0.
79%
0.
78%
0.
65%
0.
61%
0.
23%
x 0.
05%

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12/06/13 Icelandic alphabet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

See also
References
1.^ 2.og3.grei
nfjal
l
aumb ksta
fi
nnz ,brot
tnmh ansrs
lensku,ogms arafl
eiin
ga ress.zv arnumi
nbrot
tr

slenskuri
tml
ime augl
si
ngume nnt
am l
aruneyt
is
inssepte
mb er1973(ekki1 974,e i
nsogo fterhal
di

fr
a m).
htt
ps:/
/not
endur
.hi
.i
s//
~ei
ri
kur/av/
sta
fset
n .
htm#s2.
2.^ PRACTICALc r
yptog
raphy(ht
tp:
//
practi
cal
cryptogr
aphy.
co m/crypt
ana
lysi
s /
le
tt
e r-
frequencie
s-vari
ous-
l
angu a
ges/
ice
landi
c-l
et
ter
-fr
equenci
es/
)I cel
andicLett
erFrequencie
s.Retr
ievedAp ri
l4 ,2013.

h
tt
p:
//
www.
i
ela
ngu
age
s.c
om/
i
cel
andi
c.
ht
mlu
seda
ssou
rcef
orpr
onu
nci
at
ionde
scr
ipt
i
ons

External links
(Icelandic) slenska, senn forn og n. (
htt
p:
//
bel
l
a.mr
n.s
tj
r.
is
/ut
gaf
ur/
i
sle
nska
.pdf
)

Re
tri
eve
dfrom"h
tt
p:/
/e
n.wik
ipe
dia.
org/
w/i
nde
x.ph
p?ti
t
le=I
ce l
andi
c_a
lph
abe
t&ol
di
d=553934666"
Cat
egor
ie
s:Lat
i
na l
phabe
tsI ce
lan
dicort
hog
raphy Coll
at
ion

Thi
spagewasla
stmodif
ie
do n7Ma y2013at11:
10.
Tex
tisava
il
abl
eundert
heCreat
iveCommonsAt t
ri
but
i
on-Shar
eAli
keLi
c e
nse;a
ddit
iona
lter
msma yappl
y.
Byusi
ngthi
ssi
t
e,youagreet
otheTermsofUseandPri
vacyPol
icy
.
Wiki
pedi
aisaregi
ste
redtr
ademar
koftheWikimedi
aFoundat
ion
,In
c.,anon-pr
ofi
torga
niz
ati
on.

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