steinþegja (v)
“be as silent as the grave”
Like the word “steinsofa” which literally translates to “sleeping like a rock,” “steinþegja” is a compound that also uses the word “steinn,” or stone. When separated, you have steinn (stone) and þegja (to be silent), or approximately “stone/grave silence.”
Another way to word this is to say “þegja eins og steinn” which is “be silent like the grave”
I really enjoy how Icelandic has been able to condense phrases and idioms we would use in English to simple words that sum up an entire idea, like steinþegja. I guess this would be considered another example of a word that technically doesn’t exist in English.
So now you can sleep like a stone and be silent like one too. Let’s just hope the next word of the day is not deyja, “to die.”
Endalaus 