Street names in Iceland

Street names in Iceland generally reflect a duo-theme for each neighbourhood, the former part of each street name is chosen to conform to an alphabetical order of streets and a naming convention (usually nature related), the latter part is an ending which is common for all the streets in the same neighborhood. The ending is also usually used to denote the neighbourhood, for example where all the streets end in –salir (hall) the neighbourhood itself is referred to as Salahverfi (neighbourhood of the halls).

Some older neighborhoods do not follow the alphabetical order for streets. Exceptions do exist but the general rule is as above.

Common endings

In alphabetical order:
*-ás (ridge)
*-bakki (river bank)
*-barð (embankment)
*-baugur (Ring (finger))cite book | last = Chicago University Staff | title = Linguistic Studies in Germanic | publisher = A M S Press, Incorporated | date= 1915 | location = Original from the University of Michigan | pages = Page 68 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=HE83AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA68&dq=baugur++ring&as_brr=1&ie=ISO-8859-1#PPR1,M1 | doi = | id = ISBN 0404502806 ]
*-berg (rock)
*-borg (town, butte)
*-borgir (towns, buttes)
*-braut (runway)
*-brekka (escarpment)
*-brún (embankment)
*-bryggja (pier)
*-búð (smallholding)
*-byggð (settlement)
*-bær (farm, town)
*-endi (end)
*-fell (mount)
*-flöt (grassland)
*-garðar (gardens)
*-garður (garden)
*-gata (street)
*-geisli (ray)
*-gerði (hedge)
*-gil (canyon)
*-grandi (isthmus)
*-grund (ground)
*-hagi (pasture)
*-háls (ridge)
*-heiði (heath)
*-heimar (worlds)
*-hjalli (terrace)
*-hlíð (hillside)
*-holt (hill)
*-hólar (hillocks)
*-hólmi (islet)
*-hraun (lava)
*-hús (houses)
*-hvammur (grassy dell)
*-hvarf (varve)
*-hylur (pool)
*-hæð (mount)
*-höfði (cape)
*-kinn (mountain slope)
*-klöpp (rock)
*-kór (quire)
*-kvísl (river fork)
*-land (land)
*-leiti (hill)
*-lind (spring)
*-lundur (grove)
*-melur (gravel bed)
*-móar (moorland)
*-múli (cape)
*-mýri (marsh)
*-nes (promontary)
*-rimi (ridge)
*-salir (hall)
*-sel (lodge)
*-síða (side)
*-slóð (path)
*-smári (clover)
*-skjól (shelter)
*-skógar (woods)
*-stekkur (grove)
*-stígur (trail)
*-stræti (street)
*-strönd (coast)
*-teigur (small grassland)
*-tröð (path)
*-tunga (tongue of land)
*-tún (grassland)
*-vangur (open area)
*-vegur (road)
*-vellir (fields)
*-vogur (cove)
*-vík (bay)
*-vör (landing)

Example of neighbourhood naming

Salahverfi is a recent neighbourhood in Kópavogur. It has a main street, Salavegur (road of the halls) from which various culs-de-sacs spread out, in an alphabetical order as follows:
*Ársalir (halls of river)
*Björtusalir (halls of brightness)
*Blásalir (halls of blue)
*Dynsalir (halls of thunder)
*Fensalir (halls of marsh, also home of Frigg)
*Forsalir (halls of entry)
*Glósalir (halls of glow)
*Goðasalir (halls of the gods)
*Hásalir (halls of height)
*Hlynsalir (halls of maple)
*Jórsalir (halls of yor, old name for Jerusalem)
*Jötunsalir (halls of Jotuns)
*Logasalir (halls of flame)
*Lómasalir (halls of loons)
*Miðsalir (halls of the middle)
*Rjúpnasalir (halls of the ptarmigans)
*Roðasalir (halls of redness)
*Skjólsalir (halls of shelter)
*Sólarsalir (halls of the sun)
*Straumsalir (halls of current)
*Suðursalir (halls of south)

ee also

* Icelandic exonyms

References