Note 51 — Chapter IV · THE MYTHOLOGY AND COSMOGONY OF THE NORSEMEN.

It seems that the house in which Ask and Embla were to live was in existence already. Ask means ash-tree, like Yggdrasil; Embla only occurs here in the Völuspa, and it is most difficult consequently to give a meaning to it; the elm-tree is called alm, and perhaps is here meant to be in contrast to the ash.