Faroese language
Faroese is the Germanic language of the Faroe Islands spoken by about 70,000 people. The language came from Old Norse which was spoken in the Middle Ages. Faroese is the most similar to Icelandic. The alphabet has 29 letters that come from the Latin alphabet.
| Faroese | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| føroyskt mál | ||||
| Pronunciation | [ˈføːɹɪst mɔaːl] | |||
| Native to | Faroe Islands, Denmark, Greenland | |||
| Ethnicity | Faroe Islanders | |||
| Native speakers | 66,000 (2007)e18 | |||
| Language family | Indo-European
| |||
| Early forms: | ||||
| Writing system | Latin (Faroese orthography) Faroese Braille | |||
| Official status | ||||
| Official language in |  Faroe Islands | |||
| Recognised minority language in |  Denmark | |||
| Regulated by | Faroese Language Board Føroyska málnevndin | |||
| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-1 | fo | |||
| ISO 639-2 | fao | |||
| ISO 639-3 | fao | |||
| Linguasphere | 52-AAA-ab | |||
| ||||
Faroese numbers
| Number | Faroese |
|---|---|
| 0 | null |
| 1 | eitt |
| 2 | tvey |
| 3 | trý |
| 4 | fýra |
| 5 | fimm |
| 6 | seks |
| 7 | sjey |
| 8 | átta |
| 9 | níggju |
| 10 | tíggju |
| 11 | ellivu |
| 12 | tólv |
| 13 | trettan |
| 14 | fjúrtan |
| 15 | fimtan |
| 16 | sekstan |
| 17 | seytjan |
| 18 | átjan |
| 19 | nítjan |
| 20 | tjúgu |
| 21 | einogtjúgu |
| 22 | tveyogtjúgu |
| 23 | trýogtjúgu |
| 24 | fýraogtjúgu |
| 25 | fimmogtjúgu |
| 26 | seksogtjúgu |
| 27 | sjeyogtjúgu |
| 28 | áttaogtjúgu |
| 29 | níggjuogtjúgu |
| 30 | tretivu |
| 31 | einogtretivu |
| 40 | fjøruti |
| 50 | hálvtrýss |
| 60 | trýss |
| 70 | hálvfjerðs |
| 80 | fýrs |
| 90 | hálvfems |
| 100 | hundrað |
| 1000 | (eitt) túsund |
Faroese Language Media
The Sheep letter (Faroese: Seyðabrævið) is the oldest surviving document of the Faroe Islands. Written in 1298 in Old Norse, it contains some words and expressions believed to be especially Faroese.
The Fámjin stone (Faroese: Fámjinssteinurin) is a runestone located in the church of Fámjin on the Faroe Islands. The stone bears both Latin and Runic letters. The stone is dated to the time after the Faroese reformation in 1538, and proves that runes were used up to as late as the 16th century. It is the youngest of the Faroese runestones.
Major dialects and subdialects of Faroese as described by Petersen. Northwest Dialect Northern Dialect Central Dialect Southern Dialect
References
 |
This language has its own Wikipedia project. See the Faroese language edition. |
