All Nordic languages: automobile

[Wilma_Sweden]

I was looking up the etymology of the word automobile meaning car, and found that local forms of the word (or abbreviations of those) are being used in most European languages except Icelandic, where it's bifreið. Since I don't understand Icelandic, I'd be grateful if someone could explain the etymology. I've always been impressed by the way the Icelanders come up with their own words while the other Scandinavian languages just tend to adopt the foreign words 'as is'.

Out of curiosity, in the case of automobile, most languages seem to have adopted the shorter, everyday form auto, while Swe/Da/No all took the last syllable bil for everyday use. How and why this happened I do not know, I just accept it as a highly successful transformation!

/Wilma

 

[Lingvisten]

The Danish word "bil" was chosen in the newspaper Politiken in 1902. The newspaper asked the readers to come up with a shorter everyday word for "automobil". The winner was "bil".

 

[Wilma_Sweden]

The Danish word "bil" was chosen in the newspaper Politiken in 1902. The newspaper asked the readers to come up with a shorter everyday word for "automobil". The winner was "bil".

What an intelligent strategy! Ask the people, and you'll get sensible answers. I love it!

/Wilma

 

[skarphéðinn]

I was looking up the etymology of the word automobile meaning car, and found that local forms of the word (or abbreviations of those) are being used in most European languages except Icelandic, where it's bifreið. Since I don't understand Icelandic, I'd be grateful if someone could explain the etymology. I've always been impressed by the way the Icelanders come up with their own words while the other Scandinavian languages just tend to adopt the foreign words 'as is'.

Out of curiosity, in the case of automobile, most languages seem to have adopted the shorter, everyday form auto, while Swe/Da/No all took the last syllable bil for everyday use. How and why this happened I do not know, I just accept it as a highly successful transformation!

/Wilma

I lament having to admit that -despite Iceland´s political independence from DK and her fierce individualism, especially in linguistic matters- the common word for car in Icelandic, is in fact bíll (a borrowing from the Danish word). We do pronounce it differently though [bitl].

Bifreið is the formal term, in fact it stands to bíll just as English automobile stands to car. As for its meaning, I assume it is formed from bif 'to move' but also 'to tremble, vibrate regularly' and reið 'ride'. Another contender was sjálfrennireið 'self propelled ride', no longer in use.

best,
skph

 

[Wilma_Sweden]

I lament having to admit that -despite Iceland´s political independence from DK and her fierce individualism, especially in linguistic matters- the common word for car in Icelandic, is in fact bíll (a borrowing from the Danish word). We do pronounce it differently though [bitl].

Hehe - so much for the Icelandic lingistic 'protectionism'...

Bifreið is the formal term, in fact it stands to bíll just as English automobile stands to car. As for its meaning, I assume it is formed from bif 'to move' but also 'to tremble, vibrate regularly' and reið 'ride'. Another contender was sjálfrennireið 'self propelled ride', no longer in use.

Thank you for clearing that up, this was exactly what I was wondering about. However, if I ever go to Iceland, I'll try your four-legged vehicles instead. I guess that would be a called a 'töltreið'...
/Wilma