[icwhatudo]

“Why was the land that today is characterized as a huge icecap named Greenland?”

“Viking disinformation. The same reason Iceland got it’s misnomer.”

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I heard the same thing. They wanted others to move on and not mess with Iceland so they called the crappy place Greenland, and the good place Iceland.

Snopes? Myth? Anyone know?

[Foolsgold]

This is from the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, Greenland

[ccmay]

Not quite. "Iceland" is the Anglicization of Ísland, which funnily enough means "island" in Icelandic. It has nothing to do with ice and everything to do with the fact that it is surrounded by ocean.

"Greenland" is one of the earliest examples of unscrupulous real-estate marketing. They had ice there then as they do now. Any greenery was confined to a narrow coastal strip during the summer, although the climate was slightly warmer during the Medieval Climate Optimum, and sustained trees and heavy shrubbery that no longer grow. The name was used by Erik the Red to drum up interest in his new colony.

-ccm

[MrB]

Viking disinformation -

that’s what I remember from 3rd grade geography.