Eight tales of Icelandic tails

The famous story of Eskimos having countless words for ‘snow’ is well known and hotly disputed. Closer to home and susceptible of no argument is the plethora of words used by Icelanders to describe the tails of various animals (I know, I know…).

Those learners of Icelandic amongst us who are regularly called upon accurately to label the rear end of our animal friends must come to terms with the fact that our trusty Icelandic dictionary will not give us the handy one-to-one translation our brains desire.

So, concentrate, here comes the science bit:

1. Rófa (tail)

My Icelandic sources unanimously agree that a cat has a rófa. Some say a dog has too, although some call a dog’s tail skott (see below). Some are adamant that a pig also has a rófa, while others disagree violently: “No, no! A pig has a dindill (see below)!”

2. Skott (tail)

Dogs are considered by many – but not all – to sport a skott. Otherwise, the approved owner of a skott is apparently a mouse.

3. Hali (tail)

“That’s easy – cows have a hali,” exclaim my respondents with one voice. “And so do dragons,” chips in another. “What? I thought dragons had a sporður (see below)…” is the reaction.

4. Tagl (tail)

Horses and donkeys – couldn’t be simpler. Except at least one native speaker told me quite categorically that a donkey has a hali.

5. Stél (tail)

All birds have a stél. Furthermore, the tail of an aeroplane is also called a stél. Wait, this is getting unusually logical…

6. Dindill (tail)

Ah, a welcome return to insanity. Sheep have a dindill, is the unanimous conclusion of my Icelandic sources. And so do goats. Apart from those goats that some people reckon have a rófa. No coherent information was forthcoming as to the difference between a goat-dindill and a goat-rófa. The mind boggles…

7. Sporður (tail)

Fish and whales appear to have a sporður, just so you know. Take it and run.

8. Stertur (tail)

Every Icelander seems to know this word exists, but precisely none of them knows what it means. Or if they do, they do a very good impression of not knowing. Best guess: some shortened version of a tagl. Although it is not immediately apparent how horses or donkeys might end up with a shorter version of their own tail…

So, that’s as clear as mud, then! A big thanks to my Icelandic guinea-pigs (oh, heavens, what is the Icelandic for a guinea-pig’s tail?) for their efforts to enlighten this tortured soul and the very best of luck to you learners of Icelandic. Suddenly those case endings don’t seem too much of a problem, do they?