# Icelandic: Öryrkjar og lágtekjufólk



## Alxmrphi

There was a woman protesting today with a sign, a sign like this one (from last year) that says:
*
Öryrkjar og lágtekjufólk þola ekki meira!*

I just wanted to double-check I had got it right

öryrkji = disabled person
lágtekju = low-income
að þola = to bear / tolerate (take it).

Disabled and low-income people can't take it any more!

Would this be a correct translation?
I'm not sure if it's just better to say "poor" instead of "low-income person"?

On a side (but related) note, what is the protest over? Taxes? I think understanding this would give me a much better context to understand the underlying message of the poster.


----------



## sindridah

Blessaður Alex

It's better to say low-income people indeed instead of poor people but i wouldn't translate *öryrki* as disabled, more like Invalid. Other than that it's basicly perfect. I hope invalid does make sense, my dictionary gave me *öryrki = *Invalid


----------



## Alxmrphi

"Invalid" when used to mean people, doesn't really make sense, unless it meant people who are unable to do something, but I don't really know what is being protested so I'm not sure what it means.

I see _orðabók.is_ only gives* invalid* but Icelandic online gives both here:



> *öryrk/i* ....._m_           (            -ja, -jar)
> disabled person, invalid


So because it makes more sense if it's about sticking up for the rights of disabled people I chose that, if it is "_invalid_", then it doesn't really explain what they are invalid of.
Thanks for your help!


----------



## sindridah

What is it called, You know like let's say you had a car accident and you your back was injured and it would disable your ability to work and you would be rated maybe 50% öryrki. 

They are protesting against the state because i think the Icelandic government is butt-fucking these people. ( Hope i'm being appropriate )


----------



## Havfruen

The English noun "invalid" is defined here. http://www.wordreference.com/definition/invalid
Note that while they are spelled the same, the stress is on the first syllable for the noun and on the second for the adjective.
In modern AmE usage, I prefer to use "the disabled". I think of an invalid as someone lying helpless in a sickbed, while a disabled person may use a wheelchair or crutches but can still get out of the house and be a productive member of society.


----------



## Alxmrphi

> What is it called, You know like let's say you had a car accident and  you your back was injured and it would disable your ability to work and  you would be rated maybe 50% öryrki.


I understand 
I think disabled is the best term here for what you're describing.

If someone has an accident and needs to use a stick to walk (because they injured their hip), like in your example, it'd be counted as a "disability", they'd be "partially-disabled", but would come under the category of_ disabled_.

I think _orðabók.is_ should have this definition!


----------



## Tjahzi

Out of curiosity; does _-tekju-_ in _lágtekjufólk_ mean "_taker_"? As in an "_income taker_"? I'm asking because that is the construction used in Swedish, the topic sentence would go, I we decide to stick to cognates, which we theoretically can; "_Låginkomsttagare tål icke mer_". 

Oh, "ö_ryrki_" would be "_handikappad_". Guess that word wasn't in Proto-Norse.


----------



## Alxmrphi

> Out of curiosity; does _-tekju-_ in _lágtekjufólk_ mean "_taker_"?


Yes it does, it's from *tekja* (noun, take).
The whole first part *lágtekju*- is low-income.




> Oh, "ö_ryrki_" would be "_handikappad_". Guess that word wasn't in Proto-Norse.


Which word? _öryrki_? or _handikappad_?
Is that because there's no cognate in Swedish?
_
Handicapped _is actually another good way to translate _öryrki _actually.


----------



## Tjahzi

Yes, I suspected that "*lágtekju*" meant "low-taker", but felt that the "_income_-part" was missing (from Swedish) and just wanted to be 100% sure it really was the same word with the same "components" (with just "income/inkomst" left out). 

The last part was in reference to my Swedish translation of the topic sentence; I was just about to post when I realised that it contained the word "ö_ryrki_" which indeed has no Swedish cognate (and hence, my attempt to make a translation with only cognates failed ) and the word to prefer would be "_handikappad_", which obviously is derived from an English loan rather than stemming from a common ancestor of "ö_ryrki_", which lead me to conclude that there can't have been a word for "handicapped" in Proto-Norse and that "ö_ryrki_" is a more or less recent innovation of the kind that is typical for Icelandic (and not Swedish)


----------



## Silver_Biscuit

> "Invalid" when used to mean people, doesn't really make sense.


 
Yeah, it does. It's a noun in this case, not an adjective, with the stress on the first syllable. And there's definitely an important semantic difference between a 'disabled person' and an 'invalid'.

I think of a 'disabled person' as somebody who is permanently limited somehow, I suppose physically in this case. Someone who is in a wheelchair because they have permanently lost the use of their legs is a disabled person.
An invalid is something different - it suggests temporary disability whilst the invalid is waiting for the injury to heal. Someone who is in a wheelchair because of an injury that is expected to heal in time would be an invalid, in my understanding.

The three dictionaries I have access to define _öryrki_ as 'disabled person, invalid', 'invalid' and 'cripple'. Sindri, does 'öryrki' denote temporary or permanent disability, or both? Also, can it ever mean somebody with a mental disability?


----------

