hinsegin

Icelandic

Alternative forms

  • hinseginn
  • hins veginn

Etymology

A contamination of hins vegar (on the other hand, genitive, literally of the other way) and hinn veginn (the other way, accusative), from hinn (the other) + vegur (way).[1]

Adjective

hinsegin (indeclinable)

  1. different
    Synonyms: öðruvísi, annars konar
    svona ... eða hensegin ...this ... or the other ...
    Hvers vegna er einn svona, en annar hinsegin?Why is one person this way but someone else different?
    1. (dated) strange
  2. queer (non-heterosexual or non-cisgender)
    hinsegin fólkqueer folk
    1. gay, homosexual
      Synonyms: samkynhneigður, öfugur, hýr
      Antonym: gagnkynhneigður
      • 2022 January 12, Ingunn Lára Kristjánsdóttir, “Grikkir leyfa hinsegin karlmönnum að gefa blóð”, in Fréttablaðið:
        Samkvæmt núgildandi reglum á Íslandi mega hinsegin karlmenn, þ.e. karlmenn sem hafa haft samfarir við aðra karlmenn , ekki gefa blóð.
        According to current rules in Iceland, gay men, i.e. men who have had sex with other men, are not allowed to donate blood.

Derived terms

  • hinseginn dagar (Gay Pride)
  • hinseginleiki (queerness)

Adverb

hinsegin

  1. the other way round
    svona og hinseginsuch-and-such
    Ég á svona kerru, en eini gallin er sá að barnið snýr fram. Ég væri til í að snúa henni hinsegin stundum.
    I have a stroller but the one downside is that the baby faces forward. I'd like to turn it the other way round sometimes.

References

  1. ^ Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), “hinseginn”, in Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, →ISBN, page 329 (Available at Málið.is under the “Eldri orðabækur” tab.)

Further reading

  • Kristín Bjarnadóttir, editor (2002–2026), “hinsegin”, in Beygingarlýsing íslensks nútímamáls [The Database of Modern Icelandic Inflection] (in Icelandic), Reykjavík: The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies
  • “hinsegin” in the Dictionary of Modern Icelandic (in Icelandic) and ISLEX (in the Nordic languages)