The national

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

of the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

is Faroese. The Faroese language is a

Germanic language The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, E ...

which is descended from

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

. Danish is the official second language. Faroese is similar in grammar to Icelandic and

, but closer in pronunciation to

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

. In the twentieth century Faroese became the official language and, because the Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, Danish is taught in Faroese schools.

Historically

The first recorded settlers of the Faroe Islands were Irish monks ( papar), so it is possible to assume, that one of the first languages in the islands was some form of

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...

. Neighbouring Shetland was inhabited from the Stone Age, and was

Pictish Pictish is the extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geographica ...

speaking when the Norse arrived. Norse settlers arrived in the middle of the 9th century, bringing their West Norse language (from which the Faroese language evolved). Other groups are known to have lived in the Faroes as well. These include Norwegian peoples, and this is evident in certain Faroese places names, such as Signabøur (Bø of 'Sygnir') and

Øravík Øravík (also spelled Ørðavík, da, Ørdevig) is a village on the east coast of the island of Suðuroy in the Faroe Islands. The village is located in the center of the island on a crossroad where the road to Fámjin goes towards west over ...

(bay of 'Hörðir'). People from Suðuroy also refer to 'Frísarnir í Akrabergi' (The Frisians of

Akraberg Akraberg is the southern tip of Suðuroy, 5 km south from the village of Sumba, in the Faroe Islands. The name Akraberg derives from ''akur'' (cereal field). Five kilometres south of Akraberg is the southernmost point of The Faroe Islands, ...

). English and German are sometimes used for the purposes of tourism. Norwegian is occasionally heard too, due to the islands' geographical proximity to Norway.

References

Faroese language Languages of Denmark {{Faroes-stub