On an island likeIceland, the rivers are short in length. None of the rivers are important as a means of navigation due to the impracticality of settlements in theHighlands of Iceland where they originate.
The Icelandic word for "river" is "á" (auː), which appears as the final element of the compound word for many of the river names. Other common endings are "fljót" (also "river") and "vötn" ("waters"). Several rivers have the same name but are in different parts of the country. These are sometimes differentiated by including a regional name in the name of the river itself, for example "Jökulsá í Fljótsdal" (Icelandic "Jökulsá inFljótsdalur"). In other cases it may be necessary to disambiguate parenthetically.
