 Language and Culture of the Icelandic-Speaking World In Icelandic, the “five senses” are called “skilningarvitin fimm,” which is, lovely enough, “the understanding/perception senses”.
The five senses are unchanged in Icelandic (although one might argue that the natives have a flair for seeing those pesky elves we talked about). They are:
- Sjónskyn – Sight
- Heyrnarskyn – Hearing, auditory
- Snertiskyn – Touch
- Efnaskyn – Sense of smell and the sense of taste (“the chemical senses”)
- Bragðskyn
- Lyktarskyn
With these sense you can:
Að sjá – to see
Að horfa á – to watch
að stara á – to stare at
að líta á – look at
að blikka – to blink
að líta einhvern (accusative) hornauga – look askance at something
Að heyra – to hear
að hlusta [á eitthvað (accusative)] – to listen [to somebody]
hár – loud
lágvær -soft
hljóð – NOUN – noise/sound and quiet – this is a peculiar word because it can mean either sound or quiet depending on the context.
hávaði – noise (noisiness)
Að snerta – to touch
This one is fairly straightforward, though often used with the preposition ‘á’. As you see below, one most often uses á when touching an object rather than a person.
— að snerta á einhverju (dative) is to touch something.
–að snerta einhvern is to touch somebody)
að þreifa á e-u – to touch something
mjúkur – soft
hjúfur – rough
Að finna bragð af – to taste of something
This one is a bit strange because taste is expressed indirectly. So one doesn´t “taste” something so much as one finds/perceives a type of taste .
–Þeir finni beiskt og vont bragð af gúrkum
–Ég finn ekkert bragð af matnum.
Að bragðast – something tastes of (e.g., mjólkur bragðast súr – the milk tastes sour)
Súr – sour
Sætur – sweet
Beiskur- bitter
Saltur – salty
Hvernig smakkast þetta? – How does that taste?
Smakkar! – it´s good!
Að finna lykt af e-u, að þefa af e-u – to smell something
–Ég finn stanslaust lykt af salti! – I keep tasting salt!
–Hann finnur lykt af blóði – He tasted blood.
Einhverju (dative) lyktar vel/illa – something smells good-bad
— Blómið lyktar vel. – The flower smells good.
Lykt – F – smell
Ólykt – F – stench, odor
Angan – F – pleasant smell
Ilmur – M – aroma
–ilmvatn -N – perfume
Þefur – M – scent
Daunn – M – stench
Stækja – F – a powerful, unpleasant odor
 Jacques Linard – The Five Senses and the Four Elements — Work in the public domain: PD-old-100
The post Expressing the Five Senses In Icelandic first appeared on Icelandic Language Blog.
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