Dali takes us on a long walk in the wood, and we see the mountain-
tops in the distance. Knjukr(long-u), Gnupr(long-u), Tindr - 'My folk
are called after the mountain-tops', says Dali, and we also related
these weaks to points on weapons and combs, and tallness, 'and after
the Day and *Night, the *Sun and the Moon. Klettr, Hallr, Steinn
(fem. Halla and Steina attested) - Dali informs us that folk value
truefastness, and being firm, and call their children these things,
pointing to the rocks in the wood. 'What is that?', we ask. 'That is
a tree', Dali informs us. 'We believe that many of our ancestor's we
called after trees, but most of their names are lost', and 'but today
my folk are still called 'Kvistr, Humli, Heggr, Askr, Skogi(long-o),
Borkr(hooked-o), Lundr' (Branch, Hummel, a plant used in brewing ale,
Heggr, our only attested tree-name in ON sources beside Askr and
Beinvidr, a compound which means the same as Beinn, a kind of plant,
Wood(s), only attested weak and from runic Swedish, Bark, and Lund, a
grove of trees, a similar name to Lundr). We understand what Dali is
talking about, a consider recontructing all trees and plants as
personal names, starting with *Embla, the first woman, for if a man
could be called Askr, the first man (an Icelandic settler was thus
called), then a woman could be called Embla. We note especially the
tree-name Heggr, our very rare, but attested, tree-name, and wonder
about later names unattested in ON sources, like the woman's name
Bjork (also masc. Birkir, but more on this when we suffix ON man). We
wonder if folk were once simply called after trees, as Dali has told
us, somewhere, and in some tribe, in Dali's anscestor's world. We
note that parts of trees are personal names in ON, as are parts of
animals. Kloeingr, Muli(long-u), were Trjonn(long-o) the names of
some of the locals that skied with us to the local meeting. We ask
Dali about the names. 'Oh, yes', he answers, 'my folk are called
after everything that goes, crawls, or flies in the wood', and
informs us that 'the name Kloeingr (from Klo, long-o, claw) also
relates to a Krokr (hook)...'. We doze off, daydreaming about our
host Lokarr's ancestors, all named after the hook. 'Oh, yes', we say,
suddenly waking from our blund. We add the female name Soma (long o)
to our list of feminine, abstract names, meaning Honour or Are (from
a Swedish inscription), and consider it an honour to walk with Dali
in the wood. He informs us that his brothers are named Skagi and
Nasi, words for nes, which makes sense, considering our new friend's
name. We hear sounds ahead, and Dali says, 'Ah, now I shall show ye
the many wonders of the wood'. We eagerly go forth. -Konrad