Partner Article

Now ash what I call music

An Icelandic musician has composed a lighthearted song to attempt to help people remember how to pronounce the name of the volcano which has caused travel chaos.

According to the Telegraph, Eyjafjallajokull - pronounced roughly ay-uh-fyat-luh-yoe-kuutl – has confused many people and has proven especially testing for newsreaders more accustomed to easier words, or simply English.

The name is three Icelandic words formed into one by a process linguists call “agglutination”, where separate ideas are put together to form a composite idea.

In this case, Eyjafjallajokull means “island-mountain-glacier”, so some have concluded it may not refer to the volcano at all but, more accurately, “the glacier on the mountain which looks like an island”.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .