hádegi

Hádegi is a term in the Icelandic language that refers to midday or noon. It denotes the moment during a given day when the Sun reaches its highest point in the sky, i.e., solar noon.

Origin: The word is formed from elements meaning "high" and "day" and is used specifically to denote the time around the sun's meridian.

Usage: In everyday Icelandic, hádegi is used to refer to noon and serves as a temporal reference in calendars, schedules, and literature. In astronomical terms, hádegi corresponds to solar noon, the instant the Sun crosses the local meridian. The exact clock time of hádegi depends on the observer's longitude and the date, since solar noon shifts slightly due to the equation of time.

Context: The term reflects a traditional way of dividing the day and is still common in modern Icelandic language, although clock time noon (12:00) is often used in casual speech.