About “Wordfruma”

(The name is pronounced word-froomah, or word-früma.)

Fruma means ‘origin, beginning’

in Anglo-Saxon, and ordfruma means the fount or the source. The Anglo-Saxon word Os refers to a God of the Esa or Æsir tribe, and the Rune Poem for the rune Os goes as follows:

Os is ‘ordfruma’ of every speech,

The support of wisdom and the benefit of the wise,

And for every earl, prosperity and hope.

(W.H. Rose translation)


The Os, the Esa-God referred to, is Woden or Odin, the fount and origin of speech, eloquence and wisdom.    

Fruma (m, Wiktionary)

1. beginning, origin 

    2. prince, king, chief, ruler

    3. originator, inventor, creator

These definitions again suggest Odin and his connection with fruma.  In this painting, he is savoring the draft of wisdom from Mimir’s Well, for which he pledged his eye, while Mimir himself looks on. After his drink, in Odin’s own words: “Then I began to flourish and become wise, to grow and have wellbeing.  One word led me from a word to a word; one work led me from a work to a work.”  (Hávamál v. 140 or 141, depending on source, in the Poetic Edda, my rendition.)

This word fruma existed in Old English, Gothic, Old High German, and Icelandic. The Proto-Germanic stem is frumo, which is cognate with Latin primus. German cognate: Fromme. The word fromm in German signifies ‘pious, devout, religiously oriented and observant.’

In my research, my writing, and my life,

I seek for . . .

Heathen religious knowledge and understanding, and seek for ways to share it.  Since my work relies in large part on understanding the roots and sources of words, I have made a play on words here, changing ordfruma, ‘the source or origin’, to wordfruma: ‘the origin of words’.  Furthermore, this word implies a connection with religious attention, observance and knowledge.

Thus, the origin or wellspring of meaningful words flows from godly inspiration: a divine gift that underlies the formation and emergence of our entire species, homo sapiens.  Wordfruma Press thus honors the gift of speech, and the origins of the gift: Odin, and all of the Holy Ones who fill our minds and souls with inspiration.

The Wordfruma Press trademark logo

pictured here, conceptualized by myself and created by Forest Hawkins, shows the rune Ansuz, the Proto-Germanic name and shape of the rune Os, rising up from a wellspring.  Ansuz takes shape as a fountain that represents the power of speech and wisdom.  The shape of the logo also represents the Well of Wyrd and the World-Tree, with dew from the Tree dropping into the Well.

 Raven Image:   Dale Wood (reproduced with permission)