Icelandic is a North Germanic language; the language is also a West Scandinavian language and as such is most closely related to Faroese. Modern Icelandic descended from Old Norse from which Old Icelandic came from. Interestingly, Old Norse not only evolved into Modern Icelandic, it also  evolved into Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish over the centuries. Impressively, the first Icelandic text dates from around 1100 A.D. - the world-renowned Icelandic Sagas and Eddas were originally penned in Old Icelandic. Most Icelanders can read this 12th century text using only moderately easily, meaning that the language has not changed very drastically since the 12th century. 

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There are about 330,000 native speakers; however, the overall low speakers base is due to the population of Iceland rather than the language itself being endangered. 

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To learn more about the Icelandic language, Click Here and Here. 

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To hear the 1st Paragraph of the 1st book in Icelandic, Click Here.