Monday, December 14, 2009

A question of Sølver


"Lin opened her eyes to a landscape of desolate winter mountains, where a pale, full moon painted the snow silver and stern peaks rose into the sky. Gwen touched her shoulder lightly, and Lin turned around. She found herself at the top of a steep hill, gazing down on a deep, shimmering valley of hillocks and forestclad slopes. A naked, frozen river ran through it like a steel ribbon, and at the end of the ribbon twinkled the lights of a town enclosed by snowladen trees on three sides and a lake of cold, blue ice on the fourth.
- Well, I do see why you call it..."

What?

I've pondered and mulled for weeks on end and not made up my mind. So I thought I'd ask you! Which of these three should be the name of the realm where Snowchild takes place: Sølveros, Sølverdal, or Sølverheim?

I suppose for those of you who don't speak Norwegian, it might be hard to choose. Sølver means silver, but with a slight twist leaning towards *of silver* or *silvery*. Sølveros means the estuary of the river Sølver, Sølverdal means Sølver Valley, while Sølverheim means Home of Silver. All three suffixes are common in place names in Norway, like Røros, Sunndal, Trondheim.

Now, there is a river and there is a valley, so they're all logical enough. But if you can, just listen for magic and music in the name (if any). Which magical realm would you like to go to?

12 comments:

Li:ne said...

Sølverdal.
But I probably shouldn't be allowed to vote because i LOVE valleys.

Sølveros does have quite a bit of magic in it too, and it has an extra layer of meaning since the words sølver and os together also form the word ros (rose).

So Sølveros has extra value. But I still love anything with a valley in it.

Anonymous said...

Sølveros.

It has a nice ring to it.

Pan

eiv said...

-os!

Christina said...

Sølveros or Sølverdal.

camilla said...

not much help in me here...
my mind works exactly like Line's.
love -dal, but also -os because of "ros".

Catherine Denton said...

Solveros is my favorite. And your descriptions are so beautiful they're poetic.

Heidi said...

Solverdal, hands down. The Valley of Silver. I love it.

Blackbird Fly said...

Sloveros, no question. The idea is breathtaking!

Myrna Foster said...

Solveros, I love the way it sounds!

Stian said...

Sølverdal

Dee Martin said...

Sølverdal - and I love the words. I'm partial to valleys as well :)

Anonymous said...

I like Sølver. period. Aurora