diff --git a/libguile/array-handle.c b/libguile/array-handle.c
index e914456a0..76502e70a 100644
--- a/libguile/array-handle.c
+++ b/libguile/array-handle.c
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ const SCM *
 scm_array_handle_elements (scm_t_array_handle *h)
 {
   if (h->element_type != SCM_ARRAY_ELEMENT_TYPE_SCM)
-    scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->array, "non-uniform array");
+    scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->root, "non-uniform array");
   return ((const SCM*)h->elements) + h->base;
 }
 
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ SCM *
 scm_array_handle_writable_elements (scm_t_array_handle *h)
 {
   if (h->element_type != SCM_ARRAY_ELEMENT_TYPE_SCM)
-    scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->array, "non-uniform array");
+    scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->root, "non-uniform array");
   return ((SCM*)h->elements) + h->base;
 }
 
diff --git a/libguile/array-handle.h b/libguile/array-handle.h
index 94f368977..ac54825d6 100644
--- a/libguile/array-handle.h
+++ b/libguile/array-handle.h
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ SCM_INTERNAL SCM scm_i_array_element_types[];
 
 
 typedef struct scm_t_array_handle {
-  SCM array;
+  SCM root;
   scm_t_array_implementation *impl;
   /* `Base' is an offset into elements or writable_elements, corresponding to
      the first element in the array. It would be nicer just to adjust the
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ scm_array_handle_ref (scm_t_array_handle *h, ssize_t p)
     /* catch overflow */
     scm_out_of_range (NULL, scm_from_ssize_t (p));
   /* perhaps should catch overflow here too */
-  return h->impl->vref (h->array, h->base + p);
+  return h->impl->vref (h->root, h->base + p);
 }
 
 SCM_INLINE_IMPLEMENTATION void
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ scm_array_handle_set (scm_t_array_handle *h, ssize_t p, SCM v)
     /* catch overflow */
     scm_out_of_range (NULL, scm_from_ssize_t (p));
   /* perhaps should catch overflow here too */
-  h->impl->vset (h->array, h->base + p, v);
+  h->impl->vset (h->root, h->base + p, v);
 }
 
 #endif
diff --git a/libguile/array-map.c b/libguile/array-map.c
index b18824384..6af1539e9 100644
--- a/libguile/array-map.c
+++ b/libguile/array-map.c
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ AREF (SCM v, size_t pos)
   scm_t_array_handle h;
   SCM ret;
   scm_array_get_handle (v, &h);
-  ret = h.impl->vref (h.array, h.base + pos * h.dims[0].inc);
+  ret = h.impl->vref (h.root, h.base + pos * h.dims[0].inc);
   scm_array_handle_release (&h);
   return ret;
 }
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ ASET (SCM v, size_t pos, SCM val)
 {
   scm_t_array_handle h;
   scm_array_get_handle (v, &h);
-  h.impl->vset (h.array, pos, val);
+  h.impl->vset (h.root, pos, val);
   scm_array_handle_release (&h);
 }
 
@@ -728,7 +728,7 @@ SCM_DEFINE (scm_array_index_map_x, "array-index-map!", 2, 0, 0,
       scm_array_get_handle (ra, &h);
       inc = h.dims[0].inc;
       for (i = h.dims[0].lbnd, p = h.base; i <= h.dims[0].ubnd; ++i, p += inc)
-        h.impl->vset (h.array, p, scm_call_1 (proc, scm_from_ssize_t (i)));
+        h.impl->vset (h.root, p, scm_call_1 (proc, scm_from_ssize_t (i)));
       scm_array_handle_release (&h);
     }
   else
@@ -768,7 +768,7 @@ SCM_DEFINE (scm_array_index_map_x, "array-index-map!", 2, 0, 0,
 	      for (; vi[kmax] <= SCM_I_ARRAY_DIMS (ra)[kmax].ubnd;
                    *q = scm_from_ssize_t (++vi[kmax]))
 		{
-		  h.impl->vset (h.array, i, scm_apply_0 (proc, args));
+		  h.impl->vset (h.root, i, scm_apply_0 (proc, args));
 		  i += SCM_I_ARRAY_DIMS (ra)[kmax].inc;
 		}
 	      k--;
diff --git a/libguile/bitvectors.c b/libguile/bitvectors.c
index 9817e90ab..dd4a12e3f 100644
--- a/libguile/bitvectors.c
+++ b/libguile/bitvectors.c
@@ -165,12 +165,12 @@ scm_array_handle_bit_elements (scm_t_array_handle *h)
 scm_t_uint32 *
 scm_array_handle_bit_writable_elements (scm_t_array_handle *h)
 {
-  SCM vec = h->array;
+  SCM vec = h->root;
   if (SCM_I_ARRAYP (vec))
     vec = SCM_I_ARRAY_V (vec);
   if (IS_BITVECTOR (vec))
     return BITVECTOR_BITS (vec) + h->base/32;
-  scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->array, "bit array");
+  scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->root, "bit array");
 }
 
 size_t
@@ -869,7 +869,7 @@ static void
 bitvector_get_handle (SCM bv, scm_t_array_handle *h)
 {
   h->base = 0;
-  h->array = bv;
+  h->root = bv;
   h->ndims = 1;
   h->dims = &h->dim0;
   h->dim0.lbnd = 0;
diff --git a/libguile/bytevectors.c b/libguile/bytevectors.c
index ccb438cea..3fde042a7 100644
--- a/libguile/bytevectors.c
+++ b/libguile/bytevectors.c
@@ -2204,7 +2204,7 @@ static void
 bytevector_get_handle (SCM v, scm_t_array_handle *h)
 {
   h->base = 0;
-  h->array = v;
+  h->root = v;
   h->ndims = 1;
   h->dims = &h->dim0;
   h->dim0.lbnd = 0;
diff --git a/libguile/srfi-4.c b/libguile/srfi-4.c
index c98681b18..21574c7f0 100644
--- a/libguile/srfi-4.c
+++ b/libguile/srfi-4.c
@@ -118,13 +118,13 @@
   const ctype* scm_array_handle_##tag##_elements (scm_t_array_handle *h) \
   {                                                                     \
     if (h->element_type != ETYPE (TAG))                                 \
-      scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->array, #tag "vector");        \
+      scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->root, #tag "vector");         \
     return ((const ctype*) h->elements) + h->base*width;                \
   }                                                                     \
   ctype* scm_array_handle_##tag##_writable_elements (scm_t_array_handle *h) \
   {                                                                     \
     if (h->element_type != ETYPE (TAG))                                 \
-      scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->array, #tag "vector");        \
+      scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->root, #tag "vector");         \
     return ((ctype*) h->writable_elements) + h->base*width;             \
   }                                                                     \
   const ctype *scm_##tag##vector_elements (SCM uvec,                    \
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@
       return ((ctype*)h->writable_elements) + h->base*width;            \
     /* otherwise... */                                                  \
     else                                                                \
-      scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->array, #tag "vector");        \
+      scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->root, #tag "vector");         \
   }
 
 
diff --git a/libguile/strings.c b/libguile/strings.c
index 9ca1d3333..5adebb198 100644
--- a/libguile/strings.c
+++ b/libguile/strings.c
@@ -2477,7 +2477,7 @@ static void
 string_get_handle (SCM v, scm_t_array_handle *h)
 {
   h->base = 0;
-  h->array = v;
+  h->root = v;
   h->ndims = 1;
   h->dims = &h->dim0;
   h->dim0.lbnd = 0;
diff --git a/libguile/uniform.c b/libguile/uniform.c
index f12b5eaec..97471e78a 100644
--- a/libguile/uniform.c
+++ b/libguile/uniform.c
@@ -49,9 +49,9 @@ scm_array_handle_uniform_element_size (scm_t_array_handle *h)
   if (ret && ret % 8 == 0)
     return ret / 8;
   else if (ret)
-    scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->array, "byte-aligned uniform array");
+    scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->root, "byte-aligned uniform array");
   else
-    scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->array, "uniform array");
+    scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->root, "uniform array");
 }
 
 size_t
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ scm_array_handle_uniform_element_bit_size (scm_t_array_handle *h)
   if (ret)
     return ret;
   else
-    scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->array, "uniform array");
+    scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (NULL, 0, h->root, "uniform array");
 }
 
 const void *
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ scm_c_uniform_vector_ref (SCM v, size_t pos)
 
   /* need the handle for bitvectors only */
   scm_array_get_handle (v, &h);
-  ret = h.impl->vref (h.array, pos);
+  ret = h.impl->vref (h.root, pos);
   scm_array_handle_release (&h);
   return ret;
 
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ scm_c_uniform_vector_set_x (SCM v, size_t pos, SCM val)
 
   /* need the handle for bitvectors only */
   scm_array_get_handle (v, &h);
-  h.impl->vset (h.array, pos, val);
+  h.impl->vset (h.root, pos, val);
   scm_array_handle_release (&h);
 }
 
diff --git a/libguile/vectors.c b/libguile/vectors.c
index 08fac3bbd..40bd9af55 100644
--- a/libguile/vectors.c
+++ b/libguile/vectors.c
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@ static void
 vector_get_handle (SCM v, scm_t_array_handle *h)
 {
   h->base = 0;
-  h->array = v;
+  h->root = v;
   h->ndims = 1;
   h->dims = &h->dim0;
   h->dim0.lbnd = 0;