 The meaning of the Old Norse name "Bestla" remains uncertain.Scholars have proposed potential meanings such as 'wife', or 'bark, bast'.It might stem from "*Bastilōn" (perhaps a yew goddess, originally a 'bast-donor'), or from "*Banstillōn" (via an intermediate form "*Böstla"), related to Old Frisian "bös" ('marriage, union', originally 'wife').