This November marked the seventh eruption of Sundhnúkur on the Reykjanes Peninsula in a series of eruptions that began in October 2023. The eruption was widely visible from Reykjavík — the stunning photo above was captured by Magnús Lyngdal. This eruption caused the evacuation of houses Grindavík and of the Blue Lagoon. The parking lot of the latter was engulfed by lava.
Though volcanic eruptions have shaped Iceland’s landscape, saga authors were relatively disinterested in the topic, but in the Old Norse literary corpus, there are still a few references to the formidable geological phenomenon here and there. For example, in Konungs skuggsjá, a Norwegian didactic text from ~1250, the topic of Iceland’s volcanic fires comes up. The son in the dialogue asks his father, if there are fires inside the earth that cause earthquakes from their violent movements and melt stone like wax, why isn’t the whole land swallowed up? The father answers that it is because God has not willed it yet. Both Iceland’s hot volcanic fires and cold icy climate are compared to the tortures of Hell.
Certain passages in Völuspá from the Poetic Edda can also be read as referring to volcanic eruptions:
“Sól tér sortna, sígr fold í mar, hverfa af himni heiðar stjǫrnur; geisar eimi við aldnara, leikr hár hiti við himin sjálfan.
The sun grows black, the earth sinks into the sea, bright stars recoil from the sky; vapor rages against the life-nourisher, high heat licks against the sky itself.“
Here are some Old Norse vocabulary words on volcanoes:
eimr – m. vapor/reek from fire or embers
eldfjall – n. fire-hill, volcano
eldgos – n. “fire-gush”, a volcanic eruption
gufa – f. steam
hraun – n. a lava field
jarðeldr – m. “earth fire,” subterranean fire
landskjálfti – m. an earthquake
reykr – m. smoke/steam