The Names of the Spirits in Frozen II

(Originally posted to the Disney Frozen Amino on 15 Jan 2020. Edits made.)

The names of the spirits have been bothering me for a while. I preferred to know them before they were named (except for Gale, they are not called by any ‘proper’ names in the movie, and I didn’t look at the credits closely).

1. Earth Spirit(s) – Earth Giants (English)

What a dull name. Although it has to be, since there are many of them, and we’re not supposed to care about any one in particular.

2. Water Spirit – Nøkk (Norwegian – not sure whether in Bokmål or Nynorsk)

I had to do research on this one. A nøkk (or in English, a neck, or a nix) is a mythical water spirit that Scandinavian folklore seems to describe as a shapeshifter that likes the shape of a horse.

I’d prefer a non-generic name. There can potentially be many nøkker. Maybe for this one…Wavehest? Stormhest?

3. Fire Spirit – Bruni (Old Norse)

Its name means ‘fire’. Just…’fire’. Also, I guess that means it’s a he (bruni is masculine).

It’s also suspiciously close to words meaning ‘brown’ in too many languages…

If I really had to call it ‘fire’ in Old Norse, I’d have gone with Eldi, if not Logi – there’s a real myth about a personification of fire called Logi in the Norse myth of Útgarða-Loki.

Eldi, in particular, gives the illusion that he is older than he looks…which is supposed to be the case, he’s fire. Fire has existed since before stories were a thing.

4. Wind Spirit – Gale (English)

I actually don’t mind this one, since Olaf gave it to the spirit. But when Fire and Water are named in Norse or Norse-based languages, ‘Gale’ as a purely English word…

I guess it sounds cool though? Katniss’ ex-boyfriend and whatnot

(5) (Elsa and Anna) (and more…?)

While I object to them being considered spirits (which I will discuss in a future post – stay tuned), there was a quiz (on Amino) asking about Elsa’s surname.

If I had to append a ‘surname’ to Elsa and Anna, I would go straight to the old Norse (and modern Icelandic) convention of calling them ‘Elsa/Anna so-and-so’s-daughter’. This is called either a patronymic or a matronymic last name, depending on whether they choose to be called ‘Agnarr’s daughter’ or ‘Iduna’s daughter’ respectively.

And I like the ring of Elsa Iðunnardóttir and Anna Iðunnardóttir. Three spirit-favoured queens. Fylgi!

As a pure side note, if in Frozen III Anna has children, it would be gratifying to me if they were named Lilja (lily) and Hveiti (wheat). The two symbols of the two queens. Fylgi aftur!