flakkari
“Icelandic culture is infused with stories of travel. When names were needed for modern machines, the technology that enables our imaginations to travel, words were chosen that centred on the quality of roaming. Thus the neologism for laptop is fartölva, formed from the verb far, meaning to migrate, and tölva – migrating computer’; its companion, the external hard drive, is a flakkari. The latter word can also mean ‘wanderer’ or ‘vagrant’. In the end it’s the wanderers we rely on.” From Nancy Campbell’s “The Library of Ice”.
Encountered a problem? Report it to let us know.
