Yggdrasill
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