Do you ever become overwhelmed by the long, complex words on Icelandic road signs and maps? If you take a closer look, you’ll find that you can easily deconstruct these words. For example, take the famous Eyjafjallajökull volcano:

eyja (island)
fjalla (mountain)
jökull (glacier)

See, it’s a piece of (skyr)cake!

Iceland in Icons explores the country’s landscapes, culture, and history through a linguistic and visual lens. Find out why Reykjavík is called Smoky Bay and which shopping mall is named after a pretzel. A fun travel companion and souvenir!

Eunsan Huh is a Canadian writer and illustrator who currently lives in New York. She fell in love with Iceland in 2011 and began learning Icelandic shortly thereafter. Her Instagram project, Every Single Word in Icelandic, explores the semantics of the Icelandic language in a visual, iconographic way. Its goal is to share the beauty and imagination behind how Icelandic is constructed. The project is followed and enjoyed by many Icelanders and admirers of Iceland alike.