Det isländska Nya testamentet 1540 och dess plats i den isländska språkhistorien

Abstract

The article discusses the first translation of the New Testament into Icelandic in 1540, its translator, the Norwegian-Icelandic bishops son Oddur Gottskálksson, and the text’s place in the history of the Icelandic language. The NT 1540 is considered a landmark document in the history of Icelandic, and for example, its year of publication marks the boundary between Old Icelandic and Modern Icelandic in dictionary work. In many ways this is appropriate, even though its publication did not have any major impact on the development of the language in the following centuries, with the exception of the language of the Bible, nor does it particularly reflect changes in the language at the time of the translation.