Editing Hlín (section)

==Etymology==
Scholars frequently explain the meaning behind the goddess's name as 'protector'.<ref name="PROTECTOR">See, for example, Orchard (1997:86) and Lindow (2001:177).</ref> The ''Prose Edda'' section ''Gylfaginning'' derives the name from a verb found in a [[proverb]] in an obscure and otherwise unattested Old Norse proverb: ''Þiaðan af er þat orðtak at sá er forðask hleinir''. Scholars generally accept that the theonym ''Hlín'' derives from the verb ''hleina''. However, the verb ''hleina'' in which the section claims a derivation is obscure (a ''[[hapax legomenon]]''), and translators have attempted to work around it in a variety of manners, in some cases leaving the verb untranslated. Examples include the translations of [[Anthony Faulkes]] ("From this comes the saying that someone who escapes finds refuge (''hleinir'')", 1995 [1987]) and [[Jesse Byock]] ("From her name comes the expression that he who escapes finds ''hleinir'' [peace and quiet]", 2005).<ref name="HOPKINS-2017-31-32-33">Hopkins (2017:31, 32–33).</ref>

Scholars have proposed a variety of derivations for the verb. The verb is most commonly linked to Old English ''hlinian'' and ''hlænan'', ancestors to the modern English verb ''lean''. 19th century scholars, including [[Jacob Grimm]], linked ''hleina'' to the rare Old Norse noun ''hlynr'', meaning '[[maple tree]]'. Grimm links this derivation to a variety of tree figures found in folklore from the modern era in northwest Europe. Joseph Hopkins (2017) comments that this derivation may deserve further investigation in light of the potential connection between the Old Norse goddess name ''[[Ilmr]]'' and the Old Norse common noun ''almr'' ([[Elm tree]]), and says that "the potential of a protective tree goddess brings to mind a mysterious passage in the ''Prose Edda'' involving the [[rowan]], in which the tree is referred to as [Thor's] ''bjǫrg'' ['aid, help, salvation, rescue']".<ref name="HOPKINS-2017-31-32-33-35">Hopkins (2017:31, 32–33, 35).</ref>