Hi/hail all :)

> > Only one thing I will mention now: What is this running
> > joke about a word "norondr" which I've never heard of
> > and doesn't look like it should exist? :-)
>
> Erm.. I made it up. ;) I realize that's taboo in Icelandic, but in

American

> English we do such things all the time. Feel free to exterminate

it if you

> want. But we need a word to replace it first. :)
>
> Dæg

Okay, this is a little something that we should all try to prevent
from turning into an "international incident" of some kind ;)

Personally, I'm not really offended by your making up ON nonsense
words. Must say though, that it's not entirely true that it's taboo
to make up words in Icelandic. Quite untrue, actually. The 20th
century has seen an extensive process of deliberate creation of
words in order to enrich the language and maintain its vitality. The
commonly cited example of "tölva", an artificial fusion of "tölu-
völva" ("number-prophetress"), meaning 'computer', is in a sense
created in the same spirit as Dæg's word "norondr". The main
difference is that Dæg's mastery of the language (truly no offence
meant) is most likely not comparable to the native-speaker linguists
who created "tölva". Or at least "norondr" does not betray that
mastery (again, no offence).

What is taboo, then, or just not particularly impressive to anyone,
is people making up words without being qualified to do so. Would
you honestly be positive to foreigners making up English words
without even being fluent in English?

The most important point is, however:

*Please do NOT provide false, deliberately made-up words without
explicit warning*

People were, to my knowledge, asking for a real word. It really
undermines the work of both the teachers and the students to have
false information floating around.

As to an ON word to express the concept of "Spirit of the North"...
quite tricky, because that is to my mind a rather vague, romantic
concept, quite foreign to the ON mindset as I'm familiar with it.
This much must be clear, IMO.
"Andi norðrsins" means literally "spirit of the north", but such a
phrase is, ironically, very unlike the spirit of the north. Reading
the sagas, you will find the language in them to be much more down-
to-earth, generally unromantic (some sagas are markedly more
romantic than others). When romanticism occurs, it is not for "the
North", but rather for kings, heroes, and honour. Nationalism and
cultural romanticism are modern concepts, remember :)

Regards,
Óskar