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Stærsta jólatré Egilsstaða
Biggest Christmas tree in Egilsstaðir

15 metra hátt jólatré hefur verið sett upp í miðbæ Egilsstaða, það hæsta hingað til. Næsthæsta tréð var hálfum metra lægra. Tréð er sitkagreni sem sótt var í einkagarð á Egilsstöðum og voru taldir í því 47 árhringir.

A 15-meter high Christmas tree has been set up in the center of Egilsstaðir, the tallest to date. The next-tallest tree was a half-meter shorter. The tree is a Sitka spruce, which was obtained from a private garden in Egilsstaðir and thought to be about 47 years old.

að sækja – to fetch, get
present past
ég sæki sótti
þú sækir sóttir
það sækir sótti
við sækjum sóttum
þið sækið sóttuð
þau sækja sóttu
  
að telja – to believe, consider
present past
ég tel taldi
þú telur taldir
það telur taldi
við teljum töldum
þið teljið tölduð
þau telja töldu

This short article is a great source of examples of the use of comparative and superlative adjectives. It has hátt->hæsta (tall->tallest), as well as the comparative shorter (lægra).

The expression hingað til seemed new to me, but makes sense. Also note the prefix einka- which has come up before, it usually means private , in this case a garden, or maybe park since we’re talking about trees. The age of the tree is actually expressed as árhringir (year rings, or ring-years maybe?) in reference to the growth rings in a tree.

Um langt árabil var hæsta tréð sem fellt var í Hallormsstaðarskógi sett upp við verslun Kaupfélags Héraðsbúa. Ljósin á trénu verða tendruð á laugardaginn.

For many years the tallest tree ever felled was in Hallormsstaðarskógur, and set up by the Kaupfélag Héraðsbúa store. The tree will be lit on Saturday.

að tendra – to light
present past
ég tendra tendraði
þú tendrar tendraðir
það tendrar tendraði
við tendrum tendruðum
þið tendrið tendruðuð
þau tendra tendruðu
  
bil (n) – time, period
singular plural
nom bil bil
acc bil bil
dat bili bilum
gen bils bila

The word árabil actually seems a similar construction to árhringur seen above. Here the word for year (ár) is combining with the word for time, period (bil). There are several expressions with bil, another very common one is um það bil – approximately.

When I first saw tendruð I thought it had to do with the stringing of the lights around the tree, but tendra has to do with lighting/igniting – had never seen this one before 🙂

hár adj                high, tall
setja v (acc)          set, place
hingað til             so far, hitherto
garður m               garden, park
hringur m              circle, ring 
ára·bil n              a period of years