Faroese

Faroese (Faroese: føroyskt) is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. It descends from Old West Norse and belongs to the West (insular) branch of the North Germanic languages. Faroese is the modern continuation of the variety of Old Norse brought to the islands by Norse settlers in the Viking Age; over time it developed its own phonology, morphology and vocabulary while preserving many conservative features of Old Norse.

---

Classification and related languages

Faroese is classified as:

• Indo-European → Germanic → North Germanic → West Scandinavian (Insular Scandinavian subgroup).

Its closest living relative is Icelandic; both languages descend directly from Old West Norse and retain many similar grammatical and lexical features. Western Norwegian dialects are also relatively close, and historically the now-extinct Norn (formerly spoken in Orkney and Shetland) was closely related. By contrast, the continental Scandinavian languages (Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish) are more distantly related—mutual intelligibility is far greater among those three than with Faroese or Icelandic.

Mutual intelligibility.

• With Icelandic: the written languages are relatively close (especially because Faroese orthography is etymological), so readers of one can often recognize or infer much of the other. Spoken mutual intelligibility is limited—modern spoken Faroese and Icelandic have diverged sufficiently that ordinary conversation is not generally mutually intelligible without prior exposure.

• With Norwegian (western dialects/Nynorsk): there is partial intelligibility, more so in written or conservative dialectal forms than in casual speech.

• With Danish/Swedish: mutual intelligibility is low, though many Faroese people are bilingual in Danish due to historical and administrative ties.

---

Number of speakers and geographic distribution

Faroese is spoken as a first language by the majority of the population of the Faroe Islands and by Faroese communities abroad. Estimates of total speakers are on the order of ≈70,000 (sources vary; commonly cited figures range from roughly 60,000–75,000), most of whom live in the islands while several thousands live in Denmark and other parts of Europe. Faroese is the everyday language of education, media and government in the Faroe Islands.

---

History and development

• Origins (Viking Age / Old Norse): Norse settlers arrived in the Faroes from about the 9th century; they brought Old Norse (specifically Old West Norse) and that language evolved locally into Old Faroese and then into the modern Faroese spoken today. Contact with Gaelic peoples in the Irish Sea area left some substrate influence on place-names and a number of early loanwords.

• Medieval & early modern period: After the Middle Ages the Faroes were politically linked to the Norwegian and later Danish crowns. For several centuries Danish (and written Dano-Norwegian) dominated in administration and literature, so Faroese was primarily a vernacular transmitted orally. A rich oral tradition—especially ballads (the kvæði) and folk poetry—preserved Old Norse poetic forms and historical narratives.

• 19th-century standardization and national revival: In the 19th century a Faroese language and cultural revival led to efforts to codify the language. The clergyman and scholar Venceslaus Ulricus Hammershaimb published a standardized, etymological orthography in 1846; this orthography (refined since) remains the basis of modern Faroese writing. The 20th century saw Faroese gain status in education, church and government (notably after greater home rule in the mid-20th century), and modern institutions for language policy were established.

---

Literature and notable works

Faroese literature has strong roots in oral tradition (the kvæði, folk ballads and chain dances). From the late 19th century onward a written literature in Faroese developed rapidly.

Representative works and figures:

• The Faroese ballad corpus (kvæði): a central repository of traditional narrative poetry; collectors such as Jens Christian Svabo and later scholars gathered and preserved these ballads, which are important both as literature and as a source of earlier Norse poetic forms.

• Heðin Brú (1901–1987): one of the most celebrated novelists writing in Faroese. His novel Feðgar á ferð (1940), translated into English as The Old Man and his Sons, is widely regarded as a classic of Faroese literature and was chosen by many Faroese as the Book of the Twentieth Century.

• Rói Patursson: poet whose collection Líkasum (1985) won the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize (1986); he is a notable voice in modern Faroese poetry.

• William Heinesen: although Heinesen was Faroese by origin and a central literary figure, he wrote primarily in Danish; nevertheless he is often discussed in the context of Faroese cultural life and received the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize in 1965. (Many authors of Faroese background wrote in Danish during times when Danish was the prestige written language.)

Modern Faroese literature includes novels, poetry, drama and children’s books in Faroese; the language has active publishing, radio and television production, and scholarship.

---

Orthography and writing system

Faroese uses a Latin-based alphabet of 29 letters (including Á, Ð/ð, Í, Ó, Ú, Ý, Æ, Ø). The orthography established by Hammershaimb is etymological rather than strictly phonemic: spellings often reflect historical forms (and thus resemble Icelandic in appearance) rather than the exact modern pronunciation. This etymological approach aids readers familiar with Old Norse/Icelandic roots but makes Faroese spelling less transparently phonetic.

---

Grammar (overview)

Faroese grammar is typologically conservative compared with most continental Scandinavian languages:

• Morphology: Faroese is an inflected language with three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). Nouns and adjectives are inflected and there are multiple declension classes. Faroese retains a system of four cases in its grammatical description (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive), though case distinctions are more pronounced in the written language and in certain paradigms than in every-day colloquial speech. Verbs show strong and weak conjugations and mark tense and mood; the subjunctive remains in the language.

• Syntax: Basic word order is SVO (subject–verb–object) in main clauses, with typical V2 properties (verb-second) that Faroese shares with other Scandinavian languages. Definite noun forms are typically expressed by a postposed definite suffix attached to the noun (e.g. hús “house” → húsið “the house”), a trait shared with other North Germanic languages.

---

Phonology (overview)

• Vowels and diphthongs: Faroese is notable for a rich vowel inventory with many diphthongs; several long vowels from Old Norse developed into modern diphthongs.

• Consonants: Faroese has the voiced dental fricative written ð (pronounced [ð] or often [r]-like in some dialects), and a variety of consonant clusters. There is dialectal variation in aspiration and realization of consonants across the islands.

• Stress: Primary stress is usually on the first syllable of a word, typical of Scandinavian prosody, but there are exceptions connected to morphological structure and loanwords.

---

Vocabulary and borrowings

The core Faroese lexicon is inherited from Old Norse. Over time Faroese has acquired loanwords from:

• Danish (administration, modern life, education) because of centuries of political ties.

• English (technology, popular culture) and other languages in recent decades.

• There are also a number of Celtic (Middle Irish) substratal toponyms and early loans reflecting contact with Gaelic populations during settlement.

---

Sample sentences (Faroese with gloss and translation)

1. Vit búgva í Føroyum.
   (vit = we) (búgva = live) (í Føroyum = in the Faroe Islands)
   — We live in the Faroe Islands.

2. Tað regnar í dag.
   (Tað = it) (regnar = rains) (í dag = today)
   — It is raining today.

3. Eg havi eina bók.
   (Eg = I) (havi = have) (eina bók = a book-ACC)
   — I have a book.

4. Eg eiti Anna.
   (Eg = I) (eiti = am called) (Anna = Anna)
   — My name is Anna / I am called Anna.

5. Hann hoyrir fuglarnar syngja.
   (Hann = he) (hoyrir = hears) (fuglarnar = the birds) (syngja = sing)
   — He hears the birds sing.

These examples illustrate ordinary word order, the postposed definite article form in fuglarnar (“the birds”), and common verb and noun forms.

---

Dialects and standardization

There is substantial dialectal variation across the islands (some analyses identify many local varieties). While the Tórshavn dialect is often used in broadcasting and urban settings, there is no single official spoken standard; spoken varieties differ in phonology and some morphosyntactic features. The standard written language—based on Hammershaimb’s orthography and later codifications—serves as the norm for education and publishing.

---

Status, institutions and modern use

Faroese is the dominant language of daily life in the Faroe Islands, used in primary and secondary education, local government, media (radio and television), and most publishing. The Faroese Language Board (Føroyska málnevndin / Málráðið) advises on language policy, terminology and standardization. The language is taught to Faroese children as their first language; many Faroese people also learn Danish and increasingly English.

1. Glossary of Frequent Faroese Words (with cognates)

---

2. Declension Tables

Noun: hús (“house”, neuter)

Noun: maður (“man”, masculine)

Adjective: góður (“good”)

---

3. Annotated Excerpts

From Feðgar á ferð (Heðin Brú, 1940)

(Public domain in Faroese, translated excerpt)

Faroese:
“Gamli maðurin sat á beinkinum við húsveggin og hugsaði um synir sínar.”
Gloss:
Gamli = old
maðurin = the man
sat = sat
á beinkinum = on the bench (bench+def+dat.)
við húsveggin = by the house-wall
og = and
hugsaði = thought
um = about
synir sínar = his sons

Translation:
“The old man sat on the bench by the wall of the house and thought about his sons.”

---

From a traditional kvæði (ballad): Ormurin Langi (“The Long Serpent”)

Faroese:
“Ormurin langi, hann var so langur, hann bar so mongum manni.”

Gloss:
Ormurin = the serpent/dragon (ship)
langi = long
hann var so langur = it was so long
hann bar so mongum manni = it carried so many men

Translation:
“The Long Serpent, it was so long, it carried so many men.”

---

From a short modern poem (Rói Patursson, Líkasum)

Faroese:
“Vit eru her, men altíð ein aðrastaðni.”
Gloss:
Vit = we
eru = are
her = here
men = but
altíð = always
ein = some/another
aðrastaðni = elsewhere

Translation:
“We are here, but always elsewhere.”

Here is a video on the Faroese language.

 

A video about the Faroe Islands