Where does “Reykjavik” come from?
Reykjavik derives from Old Norse Reykjavík, combining reykja, meaning smoke, and vík, meaning bay, from Proto-Germanic wīkō and Proto-Indo-European roots rewg- and wey-.
Ancestry of “Reykjavik”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Icelandic | Reykjavík | bay of smokes |
| 2 | Old Norse | reykja | to smoke |
| 3 | Proto-Germanic | raukijaną | to smoke |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | -janą | Derives denominatives from nouns and factitives... |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 7 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |
Words derived from “Reykjavik”