# Icelandic: Son of Thor



## Zara1204

Hi everyone I am hoping some one can help me. My husband is looking to get a Tattoo with the words *Son Of Thor* written in Icelandic on it. What I would like to know is the proper translation with the Icelandic characters? 

I have gone to an online translator and this is what it gave me

Sonur af - thorax

This appears to be written with the English alphabet and I am not sure if it should be written with Icelandic characters or if the translation is even correct.

Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!


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## Alxmrphi

I'm only learning Icelandic, so you might have to wait for confirmation but..

Sonur = son
af + dative = of
Thor = Thor

So it looks like it can be.... *Sonur af Thor*.
However there is another name in Icelandic that is said exactly the same way, it's *Þor*. (Þ = Th)

So if you wanted to include some more non English characters to make the tattoo more unusual... I think *Sonur af Þori* is also good.
Ok I was wrong, just checked the dictionary "Þor = courage", so it looks like we have to stick with the first way..

*Sonur Thors* (Thor's son) is another version. (I think)

If your husband was looking for something with Icelandic characters he might have to pick something else 
Icelandic can look very weird and different to English, but not when saying "Son of Thor"


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## hanne

Alex_Murphy said:


> So if you wanted to include some more non English characters to make the tattoo more unusual... I think *Sonur af Þori* is also good.


Erhm, I think Zara wants it to be *correct*, not just look fancy.
Have a look at wikipedia under Thor, and check it the link to the Icelandic page - it's definitely written with Þ, th is out of the question. It's not "another name that is said exactly the same way" it's the correct way vs. a wrong way. As for the translation I'll leave it to someone who actually speaks the language .


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## Alxmrphi

Can you take a look here? The title of the page says  *Karlmannsnafn*. (Man's name)

When I did a search for it with a ' *Þ* ' it classes the word as  *Hvorugkynsnafnorð*. (Neuter word (noun)).

What I meant was another spelling of the same name, which, judging by that link I think is a pretty innocent assumption, it wasn't a guess, I looked it up and found that, which is pretty credible, but many "Icelandic first name" websites do list it.


> *Þór* (_male._ Þór, Þór, Þór, Þórs)
> 
> As last name: *Þórsson* (male), *Þórsdóttir* (female).
> 
> 
> The name of the ancient Norse god *Þór*, son of Óðinn.



Judging by the fact people care much more about the appearance of tattoos rather than the meaning (as if you're going to have it in a foreign language, it's the fact that it is unusual that makes it 'cool' and with more foreign letters that makes it more different, that's usually what people want (Have you ever seen Miami Ink ?)
So on that point I beg to differ.


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## hanne

Alex_Murphy said:


> Can you take a look here? The title of the page says  *Karlmannsnafn*. (Man's name)


It also lists John and Thomas as such, so it seems that foreign spellings/names are widely included. (I'm sure you've also looked up Þór in the meantime)
An "innocent assumption", yes, but it also shows the limitations of google and friends...

Regarding different names vs. different spellings of the same name, it might be a matter of definition. I'd also say that Hannah and Hanna are two different names. Whenever you're talking about a certain individual there's usually only one way of spelling it (they way they write it themselves), and I'd expect the same to go for Þór - even though he probably never wrote it himself .

The importance of correctness of a tattoo probably also depends on the person - I know that to me the important thing would be that I *knew* it was correct - looks would be secondary. I'd guess Zara also wants correctness since she asks the question here, but only she can tell us that.
[/ot]

[edit]"friends" = search engines in general. Like http://bin.arnastofnun.is/ which gives you a search result, but not enough info to use it correctly - I'll still claim that Thor isn't a "real" Icelandic name.[/edit]


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## Alxmrphi

Depends on the person I guess, but I am interested to know, I do think that the question was asked here for it to be correct, rather than a nonesense translation that an Icelander would look at and ask "What does that mean?" I suppose we're just discussing the degree of correctness really.



> An "innocent assumption", yes, but it also shows the limitations of google *and friends*...



True, google is very limited, in the Italian forum that I live in people are always googling results to find opposites that go against other people's points, and they get so hung up on what google brings up they actually avoid advice from English natives, it's so detrimental.

By the way, I didn't understand the '*and friends*' part of your comment?


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## Zara1204

Yes I am looking for the correct Icelandic translation of "Son Of Thor". What I found on the translator, I wasn't sure if that was the correct translation. I was also unsure if any of the Icelandic Characters were needed that the translation did not provide. 

The purpose behind this, is my husband would like to get a tattoo reflecting his last name, Thorkelson. As that means Son Of Thor, that;s what he wants the Tattoo to say.


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## Alxmrphi

The way the naming system works, means that it's "Name's son" where Name is the name of the father.....

So from the name you gave us, it's not the son of Thor, but the son of Thorkel, "Thorkel's son -> Thorlekson"

For languages that don't have the Þ character, it's rendered with 'Th' instead, as Icelandic is now the only language that has this character.



			
				wikipedia said:
			
		

> *Thorkel* or *Thorkell* is an Old Norse masculine personal name. Among the more famous holders of the name are:


 
Details about the name Thorkel. (Country of origin: *Denmark* (from Old Norse))
The name does appear in the Icelandic sagas, but as the name is from Old Norse that's not really surprising.

So I guess itd' be *Sonur af Thorkel*, but I am not going to do any more presuming until an Icelander can give their opinion.


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## butra

Zara said:
			
		

> ...with the words *Son Of Thor* written in Icelandic on it. What I would like to know is the proper translation with the Icelandic characters?



In modern Icelandic: Sonur Þórs.
                                 There might however be some misunderstanding about the meaning of the name Þorkell as Alex Murphy pointed out.


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## Zara1204

Thanks so much for everyone's help so far. His family tree goes back to Thorson, which would define as Thor Son? The only research I can find on Thorkelson is Swedish/Norwegian

_"Norwegian and Swedish: variant of Torkelson 

Swedish and Norwegian (Torkelsen): patronymic from a form of the Old Norse personal name __þorketill, composed of the elements __þórr (see Thor) + __ketill_ ‘cauldron’, ‘helmet’.  "



So that would mean his name means Thor Cauldron/Helmet Son?

This looks like it is from the U.S. and my husbands family is from Gimli Winnipeg. Not that that matters merely note worth.

I can not find anything on Thorson other then Thorsen and Thor...all meaning Thor, LOL. So if anyone can clarify that would be great. We are also checking with his family tree for more info, but as it stands his whole family is addimit it means Son Of Thor.....


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## hanne

Thorson/Thorsson/Thorsen/etc all mean the son of Thor, and Thorkelson (in various spellings) means son of Thorkel. I strongly doubt that the name Thorson would have evolved into Thorkelson - seems more like somebody's father was called Thor and somebody else's father was called Thorkel.

Even though Thorkel then in turn comes from something like "Thor's helmet" (which sounds very likely), I would say that getting "Thorkelson = Thor's helmet's son" out of it would be stretching it...

As for the explanation of the name Thorkel that is Swedish/Norwegian/Danish/Icelandic - when it goes back to Old Norse they're all the same.

A guy called Thor as first name would (indirectly) be named after the god - while a guy called Thorson as last name would be the son of Thor=his father, not the god .

I hope that could help clarify a few things.


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## Magb

For the record, if you want the phrase in Old Norse rather than in modern Icelandic it would be *Sonr Þórs*. Another Old Norse word for "son" is *mǫgr*.


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## 'Islendingur

I see that this thread is somewhat old, but I just "accidentally" found it.  If it helps any here are the opinions of an Icelander.  "Son of Thor" is spelled  "*Sonur Þórs*" in Icelandic. The Norwegian is correct about the old way of spelling it. (Sonr Þórs). However, we Icelanders do not (generally) use family names, and instead almost everybody´s last name is Þórsson, Björnsson, Guðmundsson, Guðmundsdóttir, Björnsdóttir and so on. I.e., you are simply the "son" or "daughter" of your father. Note the use of two s´s.  Now, without some more investigating, the names Þór and Þorkell are absolutely not the same. So, do not confuse the two, or at least they are totally different names in modern Icelandic.  And just to clarify the two versions a little; If someone says "I am the SON OF ÞÓR", he is making a statement, and it would in my mind be more appropriate on somebody´s tattoo.  On the other hand, saying "I am BJARNI ÞÓRSSON" , you would simply be saying your name.  Hope this helps a little, and by all means do not use these translating machines, sonur AF Þór is nothing short of an eyesore to someone that knows the language. We just do not arrange the words that way, even though the translation is technically (literally) correct.


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