Shem

(Mouse over a name to reveal how they pronounce it.)

As Appearance-of-God pulls us into our campsite, the sight of the others undoes the somewhat car-weary looks on my and Name-of-God's faces. It's hard to not be happy, seeing one's weekend companions under the towering redwoods, with the golden sun slanting wildly through the spaces far up off the ground between maroon pillars. Crest-of-Volition, Who-is-like-God, and White-Spectre come over to greet us, also grinning.

Off in a nook of the clearing that's ours for the weekend, Follows-on-the-Heel and God-is-Gracious are engaged in a struggle involving various ropes and nested metal tubes under bending tension, which surely will somehow eventually lead to a tent. Nearby, Beloved is kicking rocks off a patch of ground, but also taking some glances at other points along the rim, wondering if he should select a different spot to sleep tonight.

While Name-of-God, Appearance-of-God, and I unpack our things, a couple of couples (Ewe and God-has-Given, Strong-King and My-God-is-an-Oath) arrive back from a walk. They're looking slightly glum, especially My-God-is-an-Oath, because Strong-King stubbed his toe badly on a stone and they had to turn around. But what is that gravel-crunching sound... Finally! A van pulls in, and out pop our missing camp members: Thought-Wolf, Daring-Journey, and Earthling.

Thought-Wolf and Ewe get the fire going, which nucleates the camp to crystallize around the fire pit for the evening. Appearance-of-God is sketching some of the wild shapes of fire's shadow, Earthling is handing out smores matériel, Daring-Journey's guitar is propelling Who-is-like-God's and Crest-of-Volition's songs, and the rest of us are sitting and happily listening and enjoying all types of warmth.

The flames sink into a hot glowing blob, and Follows-on-the-Heel and God-is-Gracious have long since retreated to their tent. Strong-King and My-God-is-an-Oath also take their leave, but some of us stay up late, very late, cracking jokes and entertaining Thought-Wolf's absurd stories and cracking jokes and riffing off God-has-Given's cryptic pronouncements about society's future and cracking jokes. Earthling pokes and rearranges the pulsating embers in a mysteriously perfect manner. White-Spectre, Beloved, Name-of-God, and I are the last to go to sleep, spending another hour (or less? or more?) laying back and staring up.

1. Appendix

Text in quotation marks like "text" denotes words that are etymonically related to the name (either as roots, as cognates, or by having a root in common), or transliterations of such words. Text in brackets like [text] gives meaning, i.e. it is a translation / semantic rendering. Text in backslashes like /text/ represents imprecise "pieces" of words (usually corresponding to some old, maybe reconstructed root in another language).

  • Michael, from מִיכָאֵל, [Who is like God]
  • Samuel, from שְׁמוּאֵל, from roots "shem" [name] and "El" [god], but with unclear meaning
  • Tiffany, like "theophany", from /theo-/ ([god], as in "theology"; coetymonic with "enthusiasm", "fanatic", "festival") and from /phany/ ([appearance], as in "phenomenon", "epiphany", "phenotype", "diaphanous"; coetymonic with "fantasy", "phase", "phantom", "fantasy", "emphasis", "fancy", more distantly "beacon", "photon", "photograph", "favor")
  • William, like "Wilhelm", from /will/ (coetymonic with "will", "volition", "voluntary", "would", German "wollen" and "wählen", "well" [in a good way]) and /helm/ ("helm", "helmet", coetymonic with "clandestine", "hall", "conceal", "occult", "cell"))
  • Hamish ← Seamus ← James ← Iacomus ← Iacobus ← Iakob ← יַעֲקֹב ("Ya'akov", [Follows-on-the-Heel])
  • Rafe, like "Ralph", from "Rædwulf", from /rad/ ([counsel, advice], coetymonic with "read", "Conrad", German "Rat", maybe "ratio", "reason", "arete", "ready", "array", "arithmetic") and from /wulf/ ("wolf", coetymonic with "Rudolf", "lupus", and possibly "leprechaun") (so, "Advice-Wolf" would make more sense)
  • Jennifer, like "Guinevere", from /gwinn/ ([white], "Gwendolen", maybe "penguin", maybe coetymonic through a root /weyd/ [see] with "story", "survey", "vision", "evidence", "idea", "view") and maybe from a root /sebaris/ ([demon, spectre], maybe coetymonic with "soul", "sea")
  • Fernando, from "Ferdinand", from /fard/ ([journey], coetymonic with "far", "ferry", "ford"; and more distantly "transport", "probe") and from /nanþaz/ ([daring])
  • Dave, from דּוד ("Dahveed", [beloved])
  • Joanna, like "John", feminine form of יוֹחָנָן ("Yokhanan", [God is gracious])
  • Rachel, from רָחֵל ([ewe, female sheep])
  • Jonathan, from יוֹנָתָן ("Yonatan", [God has given])
  • Richard, from /rex/ ([king], "regal", "royal", "reign"; more distantly "right", "rule", "regulate", etc.) and from /hard/ ("hard", [brave, strong], maybe coetymonic with "-cracy", "Socrates")
  • Elizabeth, from אלישבע ("Elisheva", [my God is an oath])
  • Adam, from אָדָם ("ah-DAHM", [man, human, earth, soil])