Other Ways to Name People

How can a tree’s name stand for a person?

The Language of Poetry explains how to describe people through their actions. A man might be named as someone who fights, sails, or hunts. Names can also refer to what a person owns or the family they belong to.

Men can also be described using the names of trees. Words connected with battle, ships, or wealth are added to names such as ash or maple. The book also gives “the sender of gold” as a way to describe a man.

Names for women can refer to the clothes, gold, or jewels they wear. They can also use drinks that women serve or give to others, such as ale and wine. Drinking vessels and things suited to a woman’s work can become part of these poetic names, too.

Tree names can also describe women, but the names used must be grammatically feminine. Other names refer to stones and jewels. The Language of Poetry explains that this is because women in earlier times wore necklaces made of stones strung together.

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