Our method of approach was to look everywhere for references to mushrooms. We gathered the words for 'mushroom' and the various species in every accessible language. We studied their etymologies. Sometimes we rejected the accepted derivations and worked out new ones, as in the case of 'mushroom' itself and also of 'chanterelle. ' We were quick to discern the latent metaphors in such words, metaphors that had lain dead in some cases for thousands of years.