Yggdrasill
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English[edit]
Proper noun[edit]
Yggdrasill
- Alternative spelling of Yggdrasil
Old Norse[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Yggr (“the terrifying one; Odin”) + drasill (“steed”), where “steed” is a poetic expression for gallows, referring to the story of Odin hanging himself on the tree for nine nights.
Proper noun[edit]
Yggdrasill m
- an unclear word, only occurring in the genitive in a fixed expression
Usage notes[edit]
- Unlike in most languages that have borrowed this word, in Old Norse the “world tree” itself is only referred to by the expression askr Yggdrasils (“the ash tree of Yggdrasill”).
Derived terms[edit]
- askr Yggdrasils (“the ash of Yggdrasill; the world tree”)
Descendants[edit]
- → Icelandic: Yggdrasill
- → Faroese: Yggdrasil
- → Norwegian Nynorsk: Yggdrasil, Yggdrasel
- → Swedish: Yggdrasil
- → Danish: Yggdrasil
References[edit]
- Winterbourne, Anthony (2004): When the Norns Have Spoken: Time and Fate in Germanic Paganism