Icelandic IDN Domains

Icelandic is a language that is, unsurprisingly, primarily spoken in Iceland. Icelandic is not a large language worldwide, with only around 320,000 speakers. Icelandic is a Germanic language, which seems to have originally evolved as a dialect of Old Norse. Icelandic is old, but not ancient, with the oldest texts written in it dating from around the 10^th century AD. Considering its age, modern Icelandic is remarkably similar to the old version that these texts are written in, with modern speakers being able to read them with only a few footnotes to help them.

As a result of globalization, many cultures around the world are losing their languages. To counteract that trend, Iceland has a government-funded Arni Magnusson Institute for Icelandic studies. The Institute is responsible for preserving ancient Icelandic manuscripts and administering an array of different programs, which are dedicated to studying and preserving Icelandic language.