On 23 April we mark 100 years since Íslensk–dönsk orðabók (the Icelandic–Danish Dictionary) was published; it came out in two volumes in 1920–24. The book has 1,052 pages and contains 114,000 headwords. The dictionary is a key work in the history of Icelandic lexicography and is still the largest Icelandic defining dictionary ever made. All the explanations of words, phrases and examples are in Danish.
Íslensk–dönsk orðabók is for the most part the joint work of the married couple Sigfús Blöndal (1874–1950) and Björg C. Þorláksson (1874–1934), which they began in Copenhagen in 1903, their first year of marriage. They worked on the dictionary steadily for the next 17 years, and since Sigfús had a permanent post at the Royal Library, it is clear that Björg’s share in the work was no smaller than his. Besides the couple, Jón Ófeigsson (1881–1938) and Holger Wiehe (1875–1925) took part in the editing.
On 2 October an exhibition devoted to Íslensk-dönsk orðabók will open in Þjóðarbókhlaða, the library building at Arngrímsgata 3. The Icelandic-Danish Dictionary Fund has had an electronic edition of the dictionary made, which will be open and free of charge to all on the website of the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies. You can find information here: http://blondal.arnastofnun.is.