A brand-new Icelandic–English dictionary has been officially launched at a formal ceremony in the Edda building. The dictionary is a key addition to the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies’ collection of online reference works. Its launch on 23 October makes it the 10th bilingual dictionary released by the Institute since 2011.
The new dictionary began as a research project in 2021. Semi-automated techniques were used to accelerate translation work. The project was later continued with the aid of grants.
At the launch ceremony, the dictionary’s editors and organisers spoke of the multifaceted role of bilingual dictionaries and gave an insight into their decision-making on editorial policy, word definitions, and the inclusion of regional variations in English spelling and word usage.
Dr Bryony Matthew, His Majesty’s Ambassador in Iceland, also addressed attendees, along with Sigrún Brynja Einarsdóttir, Undersecretary of the Icelandic Ministry of Culture, Innovation, and Higher Education, who was the one to officially press the button on the dictionary launch.
Those who spoke at the ceremony are pictured above; from left to right: Bryony Mathew, British Ambassador to Iceland; Guðrún Nordal, Director of the Árni Magnússon Institute; Max Naylor, English Editor; Björn Halldórsson, English Editor; Sigrún Brynja Einarsdóttir, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture, Innovation, and Higher Education; Þórdís Úlfarsdóttir, Principal Editor; and Halldóra Jónsdóttir, Editor and Project Leader.
Further information on the dictionary
The dictionary consists of 56,000 headwords, 33,000 usage examples, and 10,000 idioms. All entries contain recorded pronunciations, which may be especially useful for users whose first language is not Icelandic. The dictionary is accessible exclusively online, openly and free of charge to all users, via the domain enska.arnastofnun.is. A simplified version of the dictionary is also accessible via the portal m.is.
The dictionary builds on the pioneering work of ISLEX, the Institute’s Icelandic–Scandinavian online dictionary (islex.arnastofnun.is), which was launched in autumn 2011. Initially, the dictionary offered entries for Icelandic to Danish, Swedish, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Norwegian Bokmal. Finnish and Faroese were later added. Since ISLEX was launched, the database of Icelandic dictionary entries has been reviewed and grown extensively, and more online dictionaries have followed. Lexía (lexia.arnastofnun.is), an Icelandic to German and French dictionary, was launched in 2021, and in 2025 the Institute also launched an Icelandic to Polish dictionary (polska.arnastofnun.is). That dictionary is also accessible via m.is.
The dictionary’s Principal Editor is Þórdís Úlfarsdóttir, and the English language editors are Max Naylor and Björn Halldórsson. Translator Larissa Kyzer also contributed to translation work. Project management was undertaken by Halldóra Jónsdóttir.
The project was funded by the Ministry of Culture, Innovation, and Higher Education, in addition to the University of Iceland’s Áslaug Hafliðadóttir Memorial Fund.
