I've heard a couple of versions here in Iceland, but the most common one is a blend of o few I've read here. Supposedly, Iceland was given its name because they saw the glaciers when they approached, and Greenland was named to lure more settlers there. But I've never seen a reference to any documents, so it's probably an urban legend.
By the way, I promised someone I'd send him (her?) a list of CDs by Björk, but I lost all my mail last summer in an upgrade accident and never got around to asking. Will whoever I promised to send the list please stand up? If enough people are interested I'll send it to the list. Thrainn On Friday 03 December 2004 06:14, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Quoting Doug Franklin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > On Thu, 2 Dec 2004 08:53:58 -0600, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > Quoting William Robb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > > My understanding is that Iceland is about the most inaptly named > > > > country in the world. > > > > Greenland is perhaps a bit less aptly named.... > > > > > > Named by the same people, right? > > > > The way I heard it, which might be urban legend, was that Eric the Red > > (IIRC) "discovered" both (from a Euro-centric POV) and named Iceland > > and Greenland the opposite of what they "really were" to dissuade other > > Europeans from going after Iceland. > > I've heard that too, several times. Once from an Icelandic person. It may > indeed be an urban legend, but if so, it's THEIR urban legend. (An > "official urban legend"?) > She did not tell me the name of the relevant Viking, so I can't help you > there. > Anyone seen or heard from our Icelandic PDMLer lately? > > ERNR
