Iceland

[Brenton]

Anyone interested in Icelandic, the culture, or of Icelandic heritage?

[KeithLBrown]

I would be interested. I was actually stationed in Keflavic Iceland for about a year when I was in the United States Navy. I was stationed at a NATO command there. I also became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while I was there. I was baptized on 10 March 1998 in Reyjavik Iceland.

[Brenton]

Oh, awesome! So you can speak some Icelandic, I'll take the libery of assuming?

(ps: spelt Keflavik)

[Maya]

Iceland is beautyful! And there are some REALLY good places to fish. I would love to go fishing there... but unfortunately the Lord has not yet seen my need of a LOT of money so I can travell around !

[Brenton]

but unfortunately the Lord has not yet seen my need of a LOT of money so I can travell around !

Hahaha, and one would certainly need a lot of money for a nice holiday in Iceland. ;p

[KeithLBrown]

First, thanks for correcting the spelling of Keflavik for me. I seem to always want to spell it with a "c" at the end. As far as speaking Icelandic, I never really learned the language. Not knowing the language is one reason that as an American I had to live on the military base and not be allowed to live out in town. The chapel where I attended services was located in Reyjavik and we held conferences via translation with the Icelanders. It was a very interesting experience and I would love to visit there again some day. The nearest Temple was in London and we were a part of the Denmark/Coppenhagen Mission.

Oh, awesome! So you can speak some Icelandic, I'll take the libery of assuming?

(ps: spelt Keflavik)

Edited August 18, 2008 by KeithLBrown
grammar correction

[pam]

Correct me if I'm wrong. I have been led to understand that Iceland is really quite green where as Greenland is really quite icy. This was done to confuse the enemy at one time. I am probably totally off on this but it's what I learned years ago.

[Brenton]

You're quite correct pam, but Iceland does have some glaciers, and is about as cold as New York. (so i read)

But since Iceland was discovered before Greenland, well, you get the picture

I have no idea about the confusing the enemy thing, though.

[KeithLBrown]

Pam,

You are absolutely correct. Iceland is a beautiful country and there is quite a bit of green to be seen there. Temperatures are not as frigid as some people seem to think. While I was stationed there we had temperatures in the 50's at times. You can actually go swimming all year round because of the natural hot springs that are there. Don't get me wrong, the winters there are pretty bone chilling cold, but even then I saw more rain probably than snow. The biggest problems that we had were the high winds, white outs, and black ice.

I had to fly over Greenland to get to Iceland. From the air, Greenland looks like a solid sheet of ice. So, yes, Greenland should have been called Iceland, and Iceland should have been called Greenland. The names were switched at one time for startegic purposes. Even to this day, a lot of the older generation Icelanders do not appreciate the Western culture trying to take over the old Nordic traditions. A lot of older folks I found will not even try to speak with you or help you if you do not know Icelandic.

All in all, it is a beautiful place and well worth the visit some day. If you remember the whale from the movies "Free Willy", he was actually brought back to Iceland and set free there. Also, while I was stationed there, Good Morning America did a special on life in Iceland. I also understand that there is a new LDS chapel there now.

As a bit of history, as far as anyone could tell at the time of my ordination, I was the first American to be ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood in Iceland.:)

By the way, the picture above was taken at the NATO command that I was a part of in Keflavik Iceland. This was on the occcasion of the ending of 16 years of active duty service and reenlisting for my final 4 years of service to make a total of 20 years of active duty military service.

Correct me if I'm wrong. I have been led to understand that Iceland is really quite green where as Greenland is really quite icy. This was done to confuse the enemy at one time. I am probably totally off on this but it's what I learned years ago.

Edited August 18, 2008 by KeithLBrown
Additions to text

[pam]

Whewww...Okay so I'm not crazy. Though some may debate that. But I thought I had learned that.

Brenton are you from Iceland?

[Captain_Curmudgeon]

This was done to confuse the enemy at one time. I am probably totally off on this but it's what I learned years ago.

As it should turn out, Erik the Red, early real-estate scammer, "named the land Greenland, saying that people would be eager to go there if it had a good name."

Sort of like the builders in my neighborhood, who cut down all the trees (couple of firs and a lot of scrub oak) on a lot and called it "Maple Cove."

Naturally,

R.O.

PS. You can read about it here.

[Brenton]

Keith, the names have never ever been "switched", where did you get that from?

Iceland has always been called Iceland, for like, 1000 years.

No pam, I'm not - but I have friends in Iceland, and learning the language and so forth.

-----

History of Iceland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

According to Landnámabók, Iceland was discovered by Scandinavian sailor Naddoddr, who was sailing from Norway to the Faroe Islands, but got lost and drifted to the east coast of Iceland. Naddoddr named the country Snæland (Snowland). Swedish sailor Garðar Svavarsson also accidentally drifted to the coast of Iceland. He discovered that the country was an island and named it Garðarshólmi (literally Garðar's Islet) and stayed for the winter at Húsavík. The first Scandinavian who deliberately sailed to Garðarshólmi was Flóki Vilgerðarson, also known as Hrafna-Flóki (Raven-Flóki). Flóki settled for one winter at Barðaströnd. It was a cold winter, and when he spotted some drift ice in the fjords he gave the island its current name, Ísland (Iceland).

Edited August 19, 2008 by Brenton

[Maya]

I suppose that in Iceland they stil use the old method when they give name to a child with the petterson or Pettersdaughter system. The Icelandic names are not easy to pronaunce... me thinks. My huband can an old Norwegean language that is close to the Isladic language. Norwegean and Islandic have drifted far away from one an other. In teh adult conferance where i met my husband was also a young man from Island He must now be around 50. He communicated with English as no one understod what he said...

[KeithLBrown]

My apologies Brenton. I was not saying that the names of the two countries were ever switched. What I said or meant to say is that having lived in Iceland and having flown over Greenland, the names should have been switched. Yes, I know that Iceland has always been Iceland and Greenland has always been Greenland. Sorry if I confused anyone. Thanks.

[KeithLBrown]

Mailis, the naming system of the sons and daughters is stilled used in Iceland to this day. Children are the "son" of someone or the "daughter" of someone. Actually, it makes it very easy to identify the family line. The names are quite interesting and some are very hard to pronounce. Unfortunately in the year that I was there I never learned much of the language. Our Conferences were all done through translation. It was interesting to hear the missionaries trying to keep up and translate what was being said.

Edited August 23, 2008 by KeithLBrown
Corrections and additions to text

[Brenton]

Yes.

Names are like, for example, (without the icelandic characters, cant be bothered atm): Agusta Eva Erlensdottir, Bjork Gudmunsdottir, Siggi Guthmunsson