--- "AThompson" wrote:

> My query with respect to
> Hvað er að orðið?
> was really about whether this was an example of the continuous

present,

> ie vera að + pp. ie Is Höskuld asking `what is happening, what is

going

> on here?' Or is he asking someone to tell him what has occurred,

which

> would seem to make a bit more sense in the context.

The latter, absolutely. Something which is "orðið" has definitely
already happened, already come about.

Ég er faðir = I'm a father.
Ég er orðinn faðir = I have (just recently) become a father.

Regards,
Eysteinn