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The weather in Iceland is famous, mainly because it is unpredictable and quite fierce at times, particularly the wind. Sure there always Það er hvasst (It’s windy), but how do you know which word to use to describe a wind that just blows off your derhúfa, as opposed to one that sandblasts your rental car?
I was listening to a podcast of Morgunútvarpið and they were talking about the wind, and different names for it depending on how hard it was blowing, which got me interested in finding as many of these words as I could. Fortunately between Wikipedia and Veðurstofa Íslands there was plenty of information to be had 🙂
| Vindstig – Wind Force | ||
|---|---|---|
| Stig | Heiti | Aðstæður á landi |
| 0 | logn | Logn, reyk leggur beint upp. |
| 1 | andvari | Vindstefnu má sjá af reyk, flögg hreyfast ekki. |
| 2 | kul | Vindblær finnst á andliti, skrjáfar í laufi, lítil flögg bærast. |
| 3 | gola | Breiðir úr léttum flöggum, lauf og smágreinar titra. |
| 4 | stinningsgola | Laust ryk og pappírssneplar taka að fjúka, litlar trjágreinar bærast. Lausamjöll byrjar að hreyfast. |
| 5 | kaldi | Lítil lauftré taka að sveigjast. Freyðandi bárur á stöðuvötnum. Lausamjöll hreyfist. |
| 6 | stinningskaldi | Stórar greinar svigna. Hvín í línum. Erfitt að nota regnhlífar. Lágarenningur viðvarandi. |
| 7 | allhvass vindur | Stór tré sveigjast til. Þreytandi að ganga á móti vindi. Skyggni slæmt í snjókomu. |
| 8 | hvassviðri | Trjágreinar brotna. Erfitt að ganga á móti vindinum. Menn baksa á móti vindi. Skyggni í snjókomu verður lítið sem ekkert. |
| 9 | stormur | Lítilsháttar skemmdir á mannvirkjum. Varla hægt að ráða sér á bersvæði. Glórulaus bylur ef snjóar. |
| 10 | rok | Fremur sjaldgæft í innsveitum. Tré rifna upp með rótum, talsverðar skemmdir á mannvirkjum. |
| 11 | ofsaveður | Miklar skemmdir á mannvirkjum. Útivera á bersvæði hættuleg. Rýfur hjarn, lyftir möl og grjóti. |
| 12 | fárviðri | Allt lauslegt fýkur, þar á meðal möl og jafnvel stórir steinar. Kyrrstæðir bílar geta oltið eða fokið. Heil þök tekur af húsum. Skyggni oftast takmarkað, jafnvel í þurru veðri. |
This is basically the Beaufort wind force scale in Icelandic, showing the relation between the various types of wind, and the conditions observed on land. It shows many of the different Icelandic words for wind that you might encounter. I didn’t translate the conditions, since you can follow the links to the English page and see it there, but there were a few interesting vocabulary words:
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And that’s rustle as in leaves, not cattle 🙂
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Two similar looking verbs with similar meaning. I’m not sure, but svigna might mean a more extreme bending than sveigja, even to the point of nearly breaking. Not positive about the nuance. Yet another verb for bend could be bogna 🙂
logn n calm and·vari m gentle breeze kul n breeze gola f breeze stinnings·gola f moderate breeze kaldi m (fresh) breeze stinnings·kaldi m strong wind allhvass vindur strong wind (force 7) hvass·viðri n storm wind stormur m storm, strong gale rok n storm ofsa·veður n gale, storm fár·viðri n hurricane, tempest blær m gentle breeze felli·bylur m hurricane, typhoon ofsa·rok n violent storm vindur m wind vind·stig n wind force
Now unless you use rok to describe a gentle spring breeze, I doubt it’s that big of a deal to use the wrong word for wind. You’re unlikely to get hit upside the head with a harðfiskur if you confuse kul and gola, but it’s good to know there is a difference, at least as far as meteorologists (veðurfræðingar) are concerned.