Pali & Icelandic

Although I have read both the "old" claims that Icelandic was directly
related to Vedic (e.g., Max Muller) and some of the recent literature
that heaps scorn on those earlier claims, today was the first day that
I sat down with a grammar of the Icelandic language.

After half an hour of reading about the phonology, grammar, and syntax
of Icelandic (i.e., knowing just a little more than nothing) I still
am baffled that anyone ever thought this language was especially
"Indo-Aryan".  It certainly does not seem to have any strikingly
"Vedic"/"Old Indo-Aryan" features --i.e., no more than any other
modern European language.

Does anyone know what features of Icelandic have supported this
thesis?  One Sanskritist told me that "notwithstanding" the
controversy over Muller (and the word "Aryan" generally) there were
still substantive reasons to suppose that early Icelandic had a direct
descent from India.  This surprises me for more reasons than one;
Rasmus Rask's thesis (now widely accepted) is that the Nordic
languages have their direct descent from "Proto-Hungarian" (i.e., to
the east).  I had generally thought that early Hungarian and, thus,
Norse, would have much less in common with "Middle Indo-Aryan"
languages like Pali than (e.g.) ancient Greek.

E.M.