112-414: Opposition (33) [REDACTED] 64°08′48″N 21°56′25″W / 64.14667°N 21.94028°W / 64.14667; -21.94028 The Alþingi ( pronounced [ˈalˌθiɲcɪ] ; Icelandic for 'general meeting'), anglicised as Althingi or Althing , is the supreme national parliament of Iceland . It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing
224-517: A reflexive pronoun instead. The case of the pronoun depends on the case that the verb governs. As for further classification of verbs, Icelandic behaves much like other Germanic languages, with a main division between weak verbs and strong, and the strong verbs, of which there are about 150 to 200, are divided into six classes plus reduplicative verbs. The basic word order in Icelandic is subject–verb–object . However, as words are heavily inflected,
336-464: A "very strong heathen spirit", antithetical to Christianity, in 13th century Iceland. Magnus Magnusson wrote that "[t]he action is swept along by a powerful under-current of fate" and that Njáll wages a "fierce struggle to alter its course" but that he is nevertheless "not a fatalist in the heathen sense". Thorsteinn Gylfason rejects the idea that there is any fatalism in Njáls saga , arguing that there
448-401: A West Scandinavian language. Icelandic is derived from an earlier language Old Norse , which later became Old Icelandic and currently Modern Icelandic. The division between old and modern Icelandic is said to be before and after 1540. East Germanic languages West Germanic languages Icelandic Faroese Norwegian Danish Swedish Around 900 CE, the language spoken in
560-520: A chieftain. Njáll manages to get Höskuldur a chieftaincy by instituting the Fifth Court at the Althing, and Höskuldur and Hildigunnur are married. At this point, the saga recounts the conversion of Iceland to Christianity in 999. Mörður Valgarðsson now finds Höskuldur to be such a successful chief that his own chieftaincy is declining. He sets the sons of Njáll against Höskuldur; the tragedy of
672-883: A collection of heroic tales and legends published in 1905 and lavishly illustrated by Henry Justice Ford , includes three stories based on the saga: The Slaying of Hallgerda's Husbands , The Death of Gunnar , and Njal's Burning . Robert E. Howard 's story " The Grey God Passes, or The Twilight of the Grey Gods " (1962) also draws inspiration from the saga. There are also a number of poetic works inspired by Njáls saga . These include Thomas Gray 's The Fatal Sisters (1768), Richard Hole 's The Tomb of Gunnar (1789), Jónas Hallgrímsson 's Gunnarshólmi (1838), Sigurður Breiðfjörð 's Rímur af Gunnari á Hlíðarenda (1860), Grímur Thomsen 's Gunnarsríma (1890) and his Íslenzkar konur frá söguöldinni (1895), and Helen von Engelhardt 's Gunnar von Hlidarendi (1909). Dramatic works deriving from
784-458: A consequence. Ármann Jakobsson has argued that it is "difficult to find a man whose manhood is not vulnerable" and that Njáls saga criticizes the idea of a misogynistic society by showing that the ideal of masculinity can be so restrictive that it becomes oppressive to men and destructive to society. Omens, prophetic dreams and supernatural foresight figure prominently in Njáls saga . The role of fate and, especially, of fatalism is, however,
896-466: A court of 36 judges ( fjórðungsdómur ) was established for each of them at the Althing. Another court ( fimmtardómur ) was established early in the 11th century. It served as a supreme court of sorts, and assumed the function of hearing cases left unsettled by the other courts. It comprised 48 judges appointed by the goðar of Lögrétta . When the Icelanders submitted to the authority of
1008-513: A gift of a fancy cloak. Flosi claims to be insulted by the offer of a unisex garment (an insult from Skarphéðinn also adds fuel to the fire) and the settlement breaks down, with Njáll's silence on the matter remaining unexplained. Everyone leaves the Althing and prepares, amid portents and prophecies, for the showdown. A hundred men descend on Njáll's home, Bergþórshvoll , to find it defended by about thirty. Any victory for Flosi will be at some cost. But Njáll suggests that his sons defend from within
1120-517: A greater role as the decades passed until 1991 when Althing became once again unicameral. The present parliament building, the Alþingishús , was built in 1881, made of hewn Icelandic stone. The unicameral parliament has 63 members, and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional representation . The current speaker of the Althing is Birgir Ármannsson . The constitution of Iceland provides for six electoral constituencies with
1232-433: A historical or a formalistic view: -a , -i , and -ur , referring to the endings that these verbs take when conjugated in the first person singular present. Almost all Icelandic verbs have the ending -a in the infinitive, some with á , two with u ( munu , skulu ) one with o ( þvo : "wash") and one with e . Many transitive verbs (i.e. they require an object ), can take
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#17327658505191344-432: A matter of honor. Þrainn refuses a settlement, and his retainers, including Hallgerður, on her last appearance, insult them. The most dramatic of the saga's battles follows. Njáll's sons, with Kári, prepare to ambush Þráinn and his followers. There is a bridge of ice over the river between them. Skarphéðinn overtakes his brothers, leaps the river, and slides on the ice past Þráinn, splitting his skull in passing. Between them
1456-513: A matter of scholarly contention. Halldór Laxness argued that the saga is primarily a book about the fatalism inherent in Norse paganism . In his view, the course of events is foreordained from the moment Hrútr sees the thieves' eyes in his niece and until the vengeance for Njáll's burning is completed to the southeast in Wales . In this way, Laxness believed that Njáls saga attested to the presence of
1568-722: A monophthong and adding either /i/ or /u/ to it. All the vowels can either be long or short; vowels in open syllables are long, and vowels in closed syllables are short. Icelandic retains many grammatical features of other ancient Germanic languages , and resembles Old Norwegian before much of its fusional inflection was lost. Modern Icelandic is still a heavily inflected language with four cases : nominative , accusative , dative and genitive . Icelandic nouns can have one of three grammatical genders : masculine, feminine or neuter. There are two main declension paradigms for each gender: strong and weak nouns , and these are further divided into subclasses of nouns, based primarily on
1680-419: A new settlement is arranged, and Gunnar's reputation grows. Njáll warns him that this will be the start of his career of killings. Next, Gunnar accepts a challenge to a horse-fight from a man called Starkaður. In the course of the fight, his opponents cheat, and Gunnar finds himself in a fresh squabble. Njáll tries to mediate but Þorgeir Starkaðsson refuses to accept it. On a journey with his two brothers, Gunnar
1792-526: A number of dubious characters into killing members of Njáll's household and the spirited Bergþóra arranges vengeance. After each killing, their husbands make financial settlements according to the status of the victims. The fifth victim is Þórður, foster-father of Njáll's sons. Þráinn Sigfússon, Gunnar's uncle and Hallgerður's son-in-law, accompanies the killers. When the feud ends and settlements are made, Þráinn's presence at that killing later causes conflict. Hallgerður now has one of her slaves, Melkólfur, burgle
1904-472: A pagan and chieftain of the Althing, to propose "one law and one religion" to rule over the whole of Iceland, making baptism and conversion to Christianity required by law. Public addresses on matters of importance were delivered at the Law Rock and there the assembly was called to order and dissolved . The Lögrétta , the legislative section of the assembly, was its most powerful institution. It comprised
2016-403: A protectionist language culture, however, this is deep-rooted ideologically primarily in relation to the forms of the language, while Icelanders in general seem to be more pragmatic as to domains of language use. Since the late 16th century, discussion has been ongoing on the purity of the Icelandic language. The bishop Oddur Einarsson wrote in 1589 that the language has remained unspoiled since
2128-599: A result, the Irish language has had some influence on both Faroese and Icelandic. The oldest preserved texts in Icelandic were written around 1100. Many of the texts are based on poetry and laws traditionally preserved orally. The most famous of the texts, which were written in Iceland from the 12th century onward, are the sagas of Icelanders , which encompass the historical works and the Poetic Edda . The language of
2240-403: A settlement, while everyone contributes to Ljótur's weregild, which in the end amounts to a quadruple compensation. The burners are exiled. Before the sons of Sigfús reach home, Kári attacks them, and most of the rest of the saga describes his vengeance for the burning. He is supported by Þorgeir and an attractive anti-hero named Björn. He pursues them to Orkney and Wales. The most dramatic moment
2352-643: A single chamber, thus introducing unicameralism . By a constitutional amendment of June 1999, implemented in May 2003, the constituency system was again changed. The number of constituencies was cut from eight to six; constituency boundaries were to be fixed by law. There are currently twelve standing committees. A full term of parliament is four years but a snap election may be called earlier. Icelandic language Icelandic ( / aɪ s ˈ l æ n d ɪ k / eyess- LAN -dik ; endonym : íslenska , pronounced [ˈistlɛnska] )
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#17327658505192464-647: A standard established in the 19th century, primarily by the Danish linguist Rasmus Rask . It is based strongly on an orthography laid out in the early 12th century by a document referred to as the First Grammatical Treatise by an anonymous author, who has later been referred to as the First Grammarian. The later Rasmus Rask standard was a re-creation of the old treatise, with some changes to fit concurrent Germanic conventions, such as
2576-548: A threat of violence. Despite his humiliation, he sees future links with Gunnar. This comes about when Gunnar returns with honours from a trip to Scandinavia. He goes to the Althing – the annual assembly – in splendour, and meets Hallgerður. They are impressed with one another and are soon betrothed, despite Hrútur's warnings about Hallgerður's character, and Njáll's misgivings. Hrútur and Njáll are proven right when Hallgerður clashes with Njáll's wife, Bergþóra . Hallgerður charms
2688-467: A total of forty. Elections to the Althing had traditionally been public – voters declared aloud which of the candidates they supported. In 1908, the secret ballot was adopted, with ballot papers on which the names of the candidates were printed. A single election day for the entire country was at the same time made mandatory. When the Constitution was amended in 1915, the royally nominated members of
2800-665: A variety of media. A number of modern novels draw inspiration from the saga's plot. These include, for example, Friðrik Ásmundsson Brekkan's novels Ulveungernes broder/Saga af Bróður Ylfing (1924/1929) and Drottningarkyn (1947), Dorothy James Roberts' Fire in the Ice (1961), Henry Treece 's The Burning of Njal (1964), Tim Severin's Viking-Trilogy (2005), Þórunn Erlu-Valdimarsdóttir 's crime novel Kalt er annars blóð (2007), Robert Jansson's Kári's Saga: A Novel of Viking Iceland (2008), Janni Lee Simner's Thief Eyes (2011), and Bjarni Harðarson 's Mörður (2014). The Red Romance Book ,
2912-559: A woman in Iceland, she curses him so that he is unable to consummate his marriage. After Unnur divorces him, he retains the dowry by challenging Unnur's father, Mörður, to combat. Mörður refuses, as he knows Hrútur's reputation and that he will lose the fight. Because of this, Hrútur keeps the dowry. While this conforms to Icelandic law, it offends justice. The first chapter gives one of Hrútur's insights when he makes comments about his beautiful niece, "I do not know how thieves' eyes came into
3024-515: Is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland , where it is the national language. Since it is a West Scandinavian language , it is most closely related to Faroese , western Norwegian dialects , and the extinct language Norn . It is not mutually intelligible with the continental Scandinavian languages ( Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish ) and
3136-467: Is a man of outstanding physical prowess, and Njáll has outstanding sagacity; they are close friends. When Gunnar is obliged to revive Unnur's dowry-claim against Hrútur, Njáll gives him the means to do so. By skillful play-acting, Gunnar begins the legal process in Hrútur's own house. He follows Hrútur's doubtful example when it comes to court, and Hrútur, who has previously won by threat of violence, loses to
3248-459: Is ambushed by Starkaður and his allies. In the battle, fourteen attackers and Gunnar's brother Hjörtur are killed. Worming through all this is Unnur's son, Mörður Valgarðsson. Mörður envies and hates Gunnar, and uses other men to attain his aims. He has learned that Njáll prophesied that Gunnar will die if he kills twice in the same family and subsequently breaks the settlement for his death. He instigates an attack on Gunnar by persons dissatisfied by
3360-567: Is cut. Hallgerður refuses to give him strands of her hair to restring his bow; this is in revenge for the slap he once gave her. Gunnar's enemies resist Mörður's proposal to burn him in the house as shameful, but eventually they take the roof off to get to Gunnar. Njáll's son Skarphéðinn assists Högni Gunnarsson in some acts of vengeance before a settlement is achieved. Scandinavian rulers honor two Icelandic expeditions: those of Þráinn Sigfússon and of Njáll's two younger sons. Both return with enhanced honor, but also with companions. Þráinn brings back
3472-477: Is distinguished by a wide assortment of irregular declensions. Icelandic vocabulary is also deeply conservative, with the country's language regulator maintaining an active policy of coining terms based on older Icelandic words rather than directly taking in loanwords from other languages. Aside from the 300,000 Icelandic speakers in Iceland, Icelandic is spoken by about 8,000 people in Denmark, 5,000 people in
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3584-404: Is evident in general language discourses, in polls, and in other investigations into Icelandic language attitudes. The general consensus on Icelandic language policy has come to mean that language policy and language ideology discourse are not predominantly state or elite driven; but rather, remain the concern of lay people and the general public. The Icelandic speech community is perceived to have
3696-511: Is more distinct from the most widely spoken Germanic languages, English and German . The written forms of Icelandic and Faroese are very similar, but their spoken forms are not mutually intelligible . The language is more conservative than most other Germanic languages. While most of them have greatly reduced levels of inflection (particularly noun declension ), Icelandic retains a four- case synthetic grammar (comparable to German , though considerably more conservative and synthetic) and
3808-518: Is no hostile supernatural plan which its characters are subject to. The first episode covers the period from the betrothal of Hrútur Herjólfsson and Unnur to the ugly legacy of their divorce. We are shown Hrútur's exploits in Norway where he gains honour at court and in battle, but he ruins his subsequent marriage by becoming the lover of the Norwegian queen mother Gunnhildur . When he denies having
3920-647: Is not very well known and because those Icelanders not proficient in the other Scandinavian languages often have a sufficient grasp of English to communicate with institutions in that language (although there is evidence that the general English skills of Icelanders have been somewhat overestimated). The Nordic countries have committed to providing services in various languages to each other's citizens, but this does not amount to any absolute rights being granted, except as regards criminal and court matters. All Icelandic stops are voiceless and are distinguished as such by aspiration . Stops are realised post-aspirated when at
4032-428: Is now believed to have been composed in the period from 1270 to 1290. Among written sources which the author likely used are Laxdæla saga , Eyrbyggja saga and Ljósvetninga saga as well as the lost sagas Brjáns saga and Gauks saga Trandilssonar . However, the author probably derived the bulk of the material in the saga from oral tradition , which he manipulated for his own artistic purposes. Opinions on
4144-454: Is often considered the peak of the saga tradition. The author of Njáls saga , like the other sagas of Icelanders , is anonymous. There are, however, several hypotheses about the saga's authorship. The oldest idea, attested in the early 17th century, is that Sæmundr fróði wrote the work. Other suggested authors include Sæmundr's sons, Jón Loftsson , Snorri Sturluson , Einarr Gilsson , Brandr Jónsson and Þorvarðr Þórarinsson . The saga
4256-555: Is still a conscious effort to create new words, especially for science and technology, with many societies publishing dictionaries, some with the help of The Icelandic Language Committee ( Íslensk málnefnd ). The Icelandic alphabet is notable for its retention of three old letters that no longer exist in the English alphabet : Þ, þ ( þorn , modern English "thorn"), Ð, ð ( eð , anglicised as "eth" or "edh") and Æ, æ (æsc, anglicised as "ash" or "asc"), with þ and ð representing
4368-557: Is titled "Njorl's Saga". The "saga" in question is quite unrelated to any events in Njáls saga, despite the similarities between the names. In DreamWorks' animated series Dragons: Race to the Edge season 3 episode 3 a small excerpt from Njáls saga is chiseled into a sword and a wall in a cave using the Futhorc runic alphabet . The trope of a man trapped in a building and burned to death drives
4480-519: Is when he breaks into the earl's hall in Orkney and kills a man who is giving a slanderous account of those killed at the burning. After a pilgrimage to Rome, Flosi returns to Iceland. Kári follows, and is shipwrecked near Flosi's home. Testing Flosi's nobility he goes to him for help, and they arrange a final peace. Kári marries Höskuldur's widow. Finally, there is a full reconciliation. Njáls saga has influenced popular culture in different ways across
4592-516: The Efri deild and a lower chamber, known as the Neðri deild . Six elected members and the six appointed ones sat in the upper chamber , which meant that the latter could prevent legislation from being passed by acting as a bloc. Twenty-four elected representatives sat in the lower chamber . From 1874 until 1915 ad hoc committees were appointed. After 1915 seven standing committees were elected by each of
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4704-479: The Middle Ages . None of the vellum manuscripts survives complete, but they tended to be copied conservatively, indicating the reverence which Icelandic scribes have had for the saga and making it relatively easy to reconstruct a complete medieval text. The vellum manuscripts were classified most recently by Einar Ólafur Sveinsson in 1953, en route to his 1954 Íslenzk fornrit edition of the saga, which remains
4816-760: The Norwegian king under the terms of the " Old Covenant " ( Gamli sáttmáli ) in 1262, the function of the Althing changed. The organization of the Commonwealth came to an end and the rule of the country by goðar ceased. Executive power now rested with the king and his officials, the Royal Commissioners ( hirðstjórar ) and District Commissioners ( sýslumenn ). As before, the Lögrétta , now comprising 36 members, continued to be its principal institution and shared formal legislative power with
4928-599: The Parliament in 2011, Icelandic is "the national language of the Icelandic people and the official language in Iceland"; moreover, "[p]ublic authorities shall ensure that its use is possible in all areas of Icelandic society". Iceland is a member of the Nordic Council , a forum for co-operation between the Nordic countries, but the council uses only Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish as its working languages (although
5040-501: The bishop and members of parliament . Early Icelandic vocabulary was largely Old Norse with a few words being Celtic from when Celts first settled in Iceland. The introduction of Christianity to Iceland in the 11th century brought with it a need to describe new religious concepts . The majority of new words were taken from other Scandinavian languages ; kirkja ("church"), for example. Numerous other languages have influenced Icelandic: French brought many words related to
5152-444: The genitive singular and nominative plural endings of a particular noun. For example, within the strong masculine nouns, there is a subclass (class 1) that declines with -s ( hests ) in the genitive singular and -ar ( hestar ) in the nominative plural. However, there is another subclass (class 3) of strong masculine nouns that always declines with -ar ( hlutar ) in the genitive singular and -ir ( hlutir ) in
5264-525: The voiceless and voiced "th" sounds (as in English thin and this ), respectively, and æ representing the diphthong /ai/ which does not exist in English. The complete Icelandic alphabet is: The letters with diacritics , such as á and ö , are for the most part treated as separate letters and not variants of their derivative vowels. The letter é officially replaced je in 1929, although it had been used in early manuscripts (until
5376-445: The 11th century, when the first texts were written on vellum . Modern speakers can understand the original sagas and Eddas which were written about eight hundred years ago. The sagas are usually read with updated modern spelling and footnotes, but otherwise are intact (as with recent English editions of Shakespeare's works). With some effort, many Icelanders can also understand the original manuscripts. According to an act passed by
5488-750: The 14th century) and again periodically from the 18th century. The letter z was formerly in the Icelandic alphabet, but it was officially removed in 1974, except in people's names. Ragnarsson, Baldur (1992). Mál og málsaga [ Language and language history ] (in Icelandic). Mál og Menning. ISBN 978-9979-3-0417-3 . Nj%C3%A1ls saga Njáls saga ( Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈnjauls ˌsaːɣa] listen ), also Njála ( [ˈnjauːla] listen ), or Brennu-Njáls saga ( [ˈprɛnːʏ-ˌnjauls ˌsaːɣa] listen ) (Which can be translated as The Story of Burnt Njáll , or The Saga of Njáll
5600-462: The 16th century, especially in vowels (in particular, á , æ , au , and y / ý ). The letters -ý & -y lost their original meaning and merged with -í & -i in the period 1400 - 1600. Around the same time or a little earlier the letter -æ originally signifying a simple vowel, a type of open -e, formed into the double vowel -ai, a double vowel absent in the original Icelandic. The modern Icelandic alphabet has developed from
5712-512: The 39 district Chieftains ( pl. goðar ) plus nine additional members and the Lawspeaker. As the legislative section of the Althing, the Lögrétta took a stand on legal conflicts, adopted new laws and granted exemptions to existing laws. The Althing of old also performed a judicial function and heard legal disputes in addition to the spring assemblies held in each district. After the country had been divided into four-quarters around 965,
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#17327658505195824-582: The Althing adopted a law creating the position of Regent to represent the Crown. This position continued until the Act of Union was repealed, and the Republic of Iceland established, at a session of the Althing held at Þingvellir on 17 June 1944. In 1959, the system of electoral districts was changed completely. The country was divided into eight constituencies with proportional representation in each, in addition to
5936-423: The Althing having to plead for help. Skarphéðinn has become grimly fatalistic, and insults many who might help them. After some legal sparring, arbitrators are chosen, including Snorri goði , who proposes a wergild of three times the normal compensation for Höskuldur. This is so much that it can only be paid if the arbitrators, and many at the Althing, contribute. The great collection is gathered, and Njáll adds
6048-461: The Althing were replaced by six national representatives elected by proportional representation for the entire country. The Act of Union (which took effect on 1 December 1918) made Iceland a state in personal union with the Kingdom of Denmark . It was set to expire after 25 years, when either state could choose to leave the union. The Althing was granted unrestricted legislative power. In 1920,
6160-416: The Althing, raising the number of members of the Althing to 49. In 1934, the voting age was also lowered to 21. Further changes in 1942 provided for an additional three members and introduced proportional representation in the double-member constituencies. The constituencies were then 28 in number: 21 single-member constituencies; six double-member constituencies; and Reykjavík, which elected eight members. With
6272-621: The Burner ), is a thirteenth-century Icelandic saga that describes events between 960 and 1020. The saga deals with a process of blood feuds in the Icelandic Commonwealth , showing how the requirements of honor could lead to minor slights spiralling into destructive and prolonged bloodshed. Insults where a character's manhood is called into question are especially prominent and may reflect an author critical of an overly restrictive ideal of masculinity. Another characteristic of
6384-574: The Danes, Swedes and Norwegians. According to Njáls saga , the Althing declared Christianity as the official religion in 1000. By the summer of 1000, the leaders of Iceland had agreed that prosecuting close relatives for blaspheming the old gods was obligatory. Iceland was in the midst of unrest from the spread of Christianity that was introduced by travelers and missionaries sent by the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvason . The outbreak of warfare in Denmark and Norway prompted Thorgeir Ljosvetningagodi ,
6496-424: The Danish model, limited to males of substantial means and at least 25 years of age, which to begin with meant only about 5% of the population. A regular session lasted four weeks and could be extended if necessary. During this period, the Althing acted merely as a consultative body for the Crown. It examined proposed legislation and individual members could raise questions for discussion. Draft legislation submitted by
6608-602: The Faroes was Old Norse , which Norse settlers had brought with them during the time of the settlement of Faroe Islands ( landnám ) that began in 825. However, many of the settlers were not from Scandinavia , but descendants of Norse settlers in the Irish Sea region. In addition, women from Norse Ireland, Orkney , or Shetland often married native Scandinavian men before settling in the Faroe Islands and Iceland. As
6720-470: The Icelanders home rule and parliamentary government . Hannes Hafstein was appointed as the Icelandic minister on 1 February 1904 who was answerable to parliament. The minister had to have the support of the majority of members of the Althing; in the case of a vote of no confidence , he would have to step down. Under the constitutional amendment of 1903, the number of members was increased by four, to
6832-590: The Icelanders relinquished their autonomy to the Crown, including the right to initiate and consent to legislation. After that, the Althing served almost exclusively as a court of law until the year 1800. The Althing was disbanded by royal decree in 1800. A new High Court, established by this same decree and located in Reykjavík, took over the functions of Lögrétta. The three appointed judges first convened in Hólavallarskóli on 10 August 1801. The High Court
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#17327658505196944-602: The Icelandic TV series Trapped (Ófærð) . BBC Radio 3 broadcast The Saga of Burnt Njal , an audio adaptation by Hattie Naylor based on a translation by Benjamin Danielsson and directed by Gemma Jenkins, on 24 October 2021, with Justin Salinger as "Njal", Christine Kavanagh as "Bergthora", Justice Ritchie as "Gunnar", Lisa Hammond as "Hattgerd", Jasmine Hyde as "Mord" and Salomé Gunnarsdottir as "The Voice of
7056-410: The Norwegian, and subsequently the Danish throne. Even after Iceland's union with Norway in 1262, the Althing still held its sessions at Þingvellir until 1800, when it was discontinued. It was restored in 1844 by royal decree and moved to Reykjavík. The restored unicameral legislature first came together in 1845 and after 1874 operated in two chambers with an additional third chamber taking on
7168-513: The Saga." The saga's influence is also discernible in other aspects of popular culture. In numerous Shanghai magazines, the Chinese composer Nie Er went by the English name George Njal , after a character in the saga. The Hallgerda Mons, a mountain on Venus , is named for Hallgerðr. Njáls saga survives in around 60 manuscripts and fragments, 21 of which – an unusually large number – are from
7280-603: The United States, and more than 1,400 people in Canada, notably in the region known as New Iceland in Manitoba which was settled by Icelanders beginning in the 1880s. The state-funded Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies serves as a centre for preserving the medieval Icelandic manuscripts and studying the language and its literature. The Icelandic Language Council, comprising representatives of universities,
7392-514: The Universe . Featured in the soundtrack is a song called "Brennu-Njálssaga," composed by the Icelandic new wave band, Þeyr with the collaboration of Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson . This song later appeared in 1981 when the group released its single Iður til Fóta (in the cassette version only). The 1995 adventure film The Viking Sagas is inspired heavily by the saga, through it features an original plot. Episode 27 of Monty Python's Flying Circus
7504-432: The above examples, the conjugated verbs veit and fór are always the second element in their respective clauses. A distinction between formal and informal address ( T–V distinction ) had existed in Icelandic from the 17th century, but use of the formal variant weakened in the 1950s and rapidly disappeared. It no longer exists in regular speech, but may occasionally be found in pre-written speeches addressed to
7616-440: The additional eleven equalization seats, the total number of members was thus 52. When Denmark was occupied by Germany on 9 April 1940, the union with Iceland was effectively severed. On the following day, the Althing passed two resolutions , investing the Icelandic cabinet with the power of Head of State and declaring that Iceland would accept full responsibility for both foreign policy and coastal surveillance. A year later,
7728-591: The arts, journalists, teachers, and the Ministry of Culture, Science and Education , advises the authorities on language policy . Since 1995, on 16 November each year, the birthday of 19th-century poet Jónas Hallgrímsson is celebrated as Icelandic Language Day . Icelandic is an Indo-European language and belongs to the North Germanic group of the Germanic languages . Icelandic is further classified as
7840-534: The attackers kill four men, including Hrappur. Þráinn's brother, Ketill, has married Njáll's daughter, and between them they bring about a settlement. Wishing to stop further contention, Njáll adopts Þráinn's son Höskuldur as his foster-son. Höskuldur grows up in Njáll's household, and is loved and favoured by him. When he is fully grown, Njáll attempts to find a suitable wife for him, Hildigunnur. However, she refuses, saying that she will only marry Höskuldur if he becomes
7952-408: The beginning of the word, but pre-aspirated when occurring within a word. Scholten (2000 , p. 22) includes three extra phones: [ʔ l̥ˠ lˠ] . Word-final voiced consonants are devoiced pre-pausally, so that dag ('day (acc.)') is pronounced as [ˈtaːx] and dagur ('day (nom.)') is pronounced [ˈtaːɣʏr̥] . Icelandic has 8 monophthongs and 5 diphthongs. The diphthongs are created by taking
8064-602: The chambers. Regular sessions of the Althing convened every other year. A supplementary session was first held in 1886, and these became more frequent in the 20th century. The Althing met from 1881 in the newly built Parliament House. The Governor-General ( landshöfðingi ) was the highest representative of the government in Iceland and was responsible to the Advisor for Iceland ( Íslandsráðgjafi ) in Copenhagen . A constitutional amendment , confirmed on 3 October 1903, granted
8176-526: The consequences of vengeance as a defence of family honor by dealing with a blood feud spanning some 50 years. The saga shows how even worthy people can destroy themselves by disputes and demonstrates the tensions in the Icelandic Commonwealth which eventually led to its destruction. Any insult to one's honor had to be revenged: sometimes this includes slights which seem trivial to modern readers. Magnus Magnusson finds it "a little pathetic, now, to read how vulnerable these men were to calls on their honour; it
8288-505: The council does publish material in Icelandic). Under the Nordic Language Convention , since 1987 Icelandic citizens have had the right to use Icelandic when interacting with official bodies in other Nordic countries, without becoming liable for any interpretation or translation costs. The convention covers visits to hospitals, job centres, the police, and social security offices. It does not have much effect since it
8400-502: The court and knightship; words in the semantic field of trade and commerce have been borrowed from Low German because of trade connections. In the late 18th century, linguistic purism began to gain noticeable ground in Iceland and since the early 19th century it has been the linguistic policy of the country. Nowadays, it is common practice to coin new compound words from Icelandic derivatives. Icelandic personal names are patronymic (and sometimes matronymic ) in that they reflect
8512-439: The exclusive use of k rather than c . Various archaic features, such as the letter ð , had not been used much in later centuries. Rask's standard constituted a major change in practice. Later 20th-century changes include the use of é instead of je and the replacement of z with s in 1974. Apart from the addition of new vocabulary, written Icelandic has not changed substantially since
8624-462: The family". The saga next follows this niece, Hallgerður, through her first two marriages. Both husbands die by the axe of Hallgerður's doting, brutish foster-father, Þjóstólfur. Hallgerður provokes the first death but not the second, although it follows from a disagreement between her and her husband. It is Hrútur who, despite the family ties, avenges the death by killing Þjóstólfur. Gunnar Hámundarson and Njáll Þorgeirsson are now introduced. Gunnar
8736-550: The government was given two readings, an introductory one and a final one. Proposals which were adopted were called petitions . The new Althing made a number of improvements to legislation and to the administration of the country. The Constitution of 1874 granted to the Althing joint legislative power with the Crown in matters of exclusive Icelandic concern. At the same time, the National Treasury acquired powers of taxation and financial allocation . The king retained
8848-452: The historicity of the saga have varied greatly, ranging from pure fiction to nearly verbatim truth to any number of nuanced views. It can be regarded as certain that Njáll and Gunnarr were real historical people and their fateful deaths are referred to in other sources. Gabriel Turville-Petre said, "It was not the author's purpose to write a work of history, but rather to use a historical subject for an epic in prose". Njáls saga explores
8960-533: The home of a churlish man named Otkell. Gunnar immediately seeks to make amends, but his handsome offers are not accepted. A lawsuit is started against him which, with Njáll's help, he wins, gaining great honour. However, while remonstrating with Hallgerður about the burglary, Gunnar slaps her. This is followed by Otkell accidentally wounding Gunnar. Insult follows injury and Gunnar reluctantly goes to avenge himself. With belated help from his brother Kolskeggur, he kills Otkell and his companions. Under Njáll's influence
9072-519: The house, and they, while realizing that this is futile, follow their father into certain death. Flosi and his men set fire to the building. Both the innocent and the guilty are surrounded. Flosi allows the women to leave but beheads Helgi Njálsson, who attempts to escape disguised as a woman. Although Flosi invites Njáll and Bergþóra to leave, they refuse, preferring to die with their sons and their grandson Þórður (the son of Kári). Eventually eleven people die, not including Kári, who escapes under cover of
9184-422: The immediate father or mother of the child and not the historic family lineage. This system, which was formerly used throughout the Nordic area and beyond, differs from most Western systems of family name . In most Icelandic families, the ancient tradition of patronymics is still in use; i.e. a person uses their father's name (usually) or mother's name (increasingly in recent years) in the genitive form followed by
9296-400: The killing by fire of the eponymous "Burnt Njáll". The work is anonymous, although there has been extensive speculation on the author's identity. The major events described in the saga are probably historical but the material was shaped by the author, drawing on oral tradition, according to his artistic needs. Njáls saga is the longest and most highly developed of the sagas of Icelanders. It
9408-482: The king. Laws adopted by the Lögrétta were subject to royal assent and, conversely, if the king initiated legislation, the Althing had to give its consent. The Lawspeaker was replaced by two legal administrators, called lögmenn . Towards the end of the 14th century, royal succession brought both Norway and Iceland under the control of the Danish monarchy . With the introduction of absolute monarchy in Denmark,
9520-419: The location for the newly established Althing due to the perception that the city was too influenced by Danes. Jón Sigurðsson claimed that the situating of the Althing in Reykjavík would help make the city Icelandic. It comprised 26 members sitting in a single chamber. One member was elected in each of 20 electoral districts and six "royally nominated Members" were appointed by the king. Suffrage was, following
9632-512: The main social event of the year and drew large crowds of farmers and their families, parties involved in legal disputes, traders, craftsmen, storytellers, and travellers. Those attending the assembly lived in temporary camps ( búðir ) during the session. The centre of the gathering was the Lögberg , or Law Rock, a rocky outcrop on which the Lawspeaker ( lögsögumaður ) took his seat as
9744-427: The malevolent Hrappur, the sons of Njáll and the noble Kári Sölmundarson , who marries their sister. But Njáll's sons also bring back a grievance, blaming Þráinn for the way in which the de facto ruler of Norway, Jarl Hákon , has treated them while looking for Hrappur, who had been hidden by Þráinn. While Njáll says they have been foolish in raising the matter, he advises them to publicise it so that it will be seen as
9856-639: The middle voice is a voice or simply an independent class of verbs of its own, as every middle-voice verb has an active-voice ancestor, but sometimes with drastically different meaning, and the middle-voice verbs form a conjugation group of their own. Examples are koma ("come") vs. komast ("get there"), drepa ("kill") vs. drepast ("perish ignominiously") and taka ("take") vs. takast ("manage to"). Verbs have up to ten tenses, but Icelandic, like English, forms most of them with auxiliary verbs . There are three or four main groups of weak verbs in Icelandic, depending on whether one takes
9968-418: The morpheme -son ("son") or -dóttir ("daughter") in lieu of family names. In 2019, changes were announced to the laws governing names. Icelanders who are officially registered with non-binary gender will be permitted to use the suffix -bur ("child of") instead of -son or -dóttir . A core theme of Icelandic language ideologies is grammatical, orthographic and lexical purism for Icelandic. This
10080-424: The narrative is the presence of omens and prophetic dreams. It is disputed whether this reflects a fatalistic outlook on the part of the author. The principal characters in the saga are the friends Njáll Þorgeirsson , a lawyer and a sage, and Gunnar Hámundarson , a formidable warrior. Gunnar's wife, Hallgerðr langbrók , instigates a feud that leads to the death of many characters over several decades including
10192-445: The nominative plural. Additionally, Icelandic permits a quirky subject , that is, certain verbs have subjects in an oblique case (i.e. other than the nominative). Nouns, adjectives and pronouns are declined in the four cases and for number in the singular and plural. Verbs are conjugated for tense , mood , person , number and voice . There are three voices: active, passive and middle (or medial), but it may be debated whether
10304-479: The number of members of the Althing was increased to 42. Since 1945, the Althing has customarily assembled in the autumn. With the Constitutional Act of 1934 , the number of members was increased by seven and the system of national representatives abolished in favour of one providing for eleven seats used to equalize discrepancies between the parties' popular vote and the number of seats they received in
10416-506: The number of voters represented by each member of the Althing in one constituency would be less than half of the comparable ratio in another constituency, the Icelandic National Electoral Commission is tasked with altering the allocation of seats to reduce that difference. The Althing claims to be the longest-running parliament in the world. Its establishment as an outdoor assembly or thing held on
10528-407: The plains of Þingvellir ('Thing Fields' or 'Assembly Fields') from about 930, laid the foundation for an independent national existence in Iceland. To begin with, the Althing was a general assembly of the Icelandic Commonwealth , where the country's most powerful leaders ( goðar ) met to decide on legislation and dispense justice . All free men could attend the assemblies, which were usually
10640-486: The possibility of an increase to seven. The constituency boundaries and the number of seats allocated to each constituency are fixed by legislation. No constituency can be represented by fewer than six seats. Furthermore, each party with more than 5% of the national vote is allocated seats based on its proportion of the national vote in order that the number of members in parliament for each political party should be more or less proportional to its overall electoral support. If
10752-474: The presiding official of the assembly. His responsibilities included reciting aloud the laws in effect at the time. It was his duty to proclaim the procedural law of the Althing to those attending the assembly each year. The Gulathing Law was adopted in 930 at the first Althing, introduced by Úlfljótr who had spent three years in Norway studying their laws. The Icelandic laws conferred a privileged status on
10864-460: The previous eleven equalization seats. The total number of members elected was 60. In 1968, the Althing approved the lowering of the voting age to 20 years. A further amendment to the Constitution in 1984 increased the number of members to 63 and reduced the voting age to 18 years. Further major changes were introduced in the Althing in May 1991: the two chambers, by that point having identical election methods and identical membership, were merged into
10976-524: The proceedings by an infected leg. There is a legal joust between the parties. Eventually, when his legal action seems to be failing, Þórhallur lances his boil with his spear and begins fighting. Flosi's men are driven back until Snorri separates the parties. In the confusion, several are killed including Ljótur, Flosi's brother-in-law. Ljótur's father, Hallur of Síða, takes advantage of the truce to appeal for peace, and seeks no compensation for his son. Moved by this, all but Kári and Njáll's nephew Þorgeir reach
11088-413: The right to veto legislation and often, on the advice of his ministers, refused to consent to legislation adopted by the Althing. The number of members of the Althing was increased to 36, 30 of them elected in general elections in eight single-member constituencies and 11 double-member constituencies, the other six appointed by the Crown as before. The Althing was now divided into an upper chamber, known as
11200-510: The saga is that they are so susceptible to his promptings that they, with Mörður and Kári, murder him as he sows in his field. As one character says, "Höskuldur was killed for less than no reason; all men mourn his death; but none more than Njáll, his foster-father". Flosi, the uncle of Höskuldur's wife, takes revenge against the killers, and seeks help from powerful chieftains. He is pressured (against his better judgement) by Hildigunnur to accept only blood vengeance. Njáll's sons find themselves at
11312-415: The saga's plot and characters include Gordon Bottomley 's The Riding to Lithend (1909), Jóhann Sigurjónsson 's Logneren/Lyga-Mörður (1917), Thit Jensen 's Nial den Vise (1934), and Sigurjón Jónsson's Þiðrandi - sem dísir drápu (1950). Embla Ýr Bárudóttir and Ingólfur Örn Björgvinsson's graphic novel adaptation of the saga, consisting of the four volumes Blóðregn , Brennan , Vetrarvíg , and Hetjan ,
11424-407: The sagas is Old Icelandic , a western dialect of Old Norse . The Dano-Norwegian , then later Danish rule of Iceland from 1536 to 1918 had little effect on the evolution of Icelandic (in contrast to the Norwegian language), which remained in daily use among the general population. Though more archaic than the other living Germanic languages, Icelandic changed markedly in pronunciation from the 12th to
11536-512: The settlement. Again, Gunnar wins the fight, but he kills a second man in the same family. The settlement that follows requires that Gunnar and Kolskeggur leave Iceland for three years. Arrangements are made for exile. But as Gunnar leaves home, he looks homeward and, touched by the beauty of his homestead, resolves not to leave Iceland, thus becoming an outlaw. He goes about as though nothing has changed but his enemies, Mörður among them, seek revenge. He defends himself in his home until his bowstring
11648-414: The smoke by running along the beam of the house. Flosi knows that Kári will exact vengeance for the burning. At the Althing, both sides gather. Flosi bribes Eyjólfur Bölverksson, one of the finest lawyers in Iceland, into taking over the case, while his opponents blackmail Mörður Valgarðsson into prosecuting, advised by Þórhallur, Njáll's foster-son, who was trained in the law by Njáll, but is kept away from
11760-476: The standard edition. However, a project on 'The Variance of Njáls saga ', based in the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies , is reassessing the complete history of the manuscript transmission of the saga. The first printed edition of the saga, by Ólafur Ólafsson, based primarily on Reykjabók, with reference to Kálfalækjabók and Möðruvallabók, was published in Copenhagen in 1772. A major step in
11872-446: The time the ancient literature of Iceland was written. Later in the 18th century the purism movement grew and more works were translated into Icelandic, especially in areas that Icelandic had hardly ever been used in. Many neologisms were introduced, with many of them being loan-translations. In the early 19th century, due to the influence of romanticism , importance was put on the purity of spoken language as well. The written language
11984-458: The word order is fairly flexible, and every combination may occur in poetry; SVO, SOV, VSO, VOS, OSV and OVS are all allowed for metrical purposes. However, as with most Germanic languages, Icelandic usually complies with the V2 word order restriction, so the conjugated verb in Icelandic usually appears as the second element in the clause, preceded by the word or phrase being emphasised. For example: In
12096-479: Was also brought closer to the spoken language, as the sentence structure of literature had previously been influenced by Danish and German . The changes brought by the purism movement have had the most influence on the written language, as many speakers use foreign words freely in speech but try to avoid them in writing. The success of the many neologisms created from the movement has also been variable as some loanwords have not been replaced with native ones. There
12208-419: Was fatally easy to goad them into action to avenge some suspicion of an insult". Insults involving a character's manliness are especially prominent in the saga. Thus, Njáll's lack of a beard is repeatedly referred to and used by his opponents to call his manhood into question. Another example, among many, is when the gift of a silk garment is considered an insult by Flosi and a hard-won settlement breaks down as
12320-436: Was founded in 930 at Þingvellir (' thing fields' or 'assembly fields'), about 45 kilometres (28 mi) east of what later became the country's capital, Reykjavík . After Iceland's union with Norway in 1262, the Althing lost its legislative power, which was not restored until 1904 when Iceland gained home rule from Denmark. For 641 years, the Althing did not serve as the parliament of Iceland; ultimate power rested with
12432-608: Was published in Iceland between 2003 and 2007. In terms of film, television, and radio, the Icelandic short film called Brennu-Njálssaga (known by its English title in Europe as The Saga of Burnt Njal ) was directed by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson and released 1981. It sarcastically depicted the burning of the book itself, not of the events described within it. The film is featured on the Icelandic DVD release of Angels of
12544-549: Was to hold regular sessions and function as the court of highest instance in the country. It operated until 1920, when the Supreme Court of Iceland was established. A royal decree providing for the establishment of a new Althing was issued on 8 March 1843. Elections were held the following year and the assembly finally met on 1 July 1845 in Reykjavík. Some Icelandic nationalists (the Fjölnir group) did not want Reykjavík as
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