--- "Scott Schroder" wrote:

> I'm not certain of this particular case, but there are a number of

kennings

> that equate men
> with trees

Indeed - tree-names are very common as base words in man-kennings.
There are basically three types of base-word possible, the name of
a tree (of the masculine gender), the name of a god or other
supernatural creature (of the masculine gender), or a simple
nomen agentis ("agent-noun"). Thus, "elm-tree of sword", "Baldr
of sword", and "swinger of sword" are more or less equivalent.
(The last-named is the least "kenning-like" - and some would go
so far as to not consider it a true kenning. However, Snorri did
so, and it behaves exactly the same as the other two types, so
I would definitely do so. Some non-Icelandic scholars might not
agree ...)

> or refer to undertakings of men in arboreal terms, with war host
> as forest of spears, etc.

This one I'm not immediately familiar with - do you refer to
something specific?

A spear can be called "tree of battle/blood/wounds/etc.", but I
can't recall, off the cuff, any place where an army is called a
"forest of spears" in poetic terms. The closest I can come up with
is "Óðins eiki" (literally "Odin's group of oak trees") for a group
of warriors - but it is a very unusual and atypical usage. Kennings
for collectives are rare beasts indeed.

Best,
Eysteinn