Is the name of a real hot spring in Iceland and comes from the Icelandic verb geysa (gush). The name of the place is also its first appearance in English.
The Annual Register is probably the oldest book making a review of the year. Published in London, it was started in 1758 and is still going strong. In the 1760s there was a reference to “Geyser, a wonderful spring in the valley of Haukadal”. The next reference in English is a little more complicated. It comes from the Swedish archbishop and traveller Uno von Troll who accompanied Joseph Banks (famous for travelling and writing for Captain Cook (cf. nostalgia and kangaroo) on a trip to Ireland in 1772. What resulted was a collection of letters which presents an early positive description of Iceland which was published in Sweden, then translated into German and retranslated into English in the book Letters on Iceland by Susanne Forster in 1780. This was the first time the word was used generically. The translator (who was the daughter of the Governor of the Royal Exchange) described the town of Geyser “where is the largest of all the spouting springs in Iceland, or perhaps in the known world”. She then continued the description writing “among the hot springs in Iceland, several of which bear the name of geyser”.
Perhaps it was the Icelandic word which got taken up into English, because it was the nearest example of the phenomenon to England. After all the other key areas in the world for geysers such as Yellowstone National Park in the USA or El Tatia in Chile were very far away from England.
Did you like the article? Then please like and share it on Facebook, tweet it on Twitter or add it in Google+.
