Yggdrasil: Encyclopedia - Yggdrasil

Yggdrasil

In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil (actually Yggdrasill [ˈygˌdrasil:]; the extra -l is a nominative case marker) also sometimes called Mimameid or Lerad was the "World tree", a gigantic tree, thought to connect all the nine worlds of Norse cosmology. It is often suggested to be an ash tree, an interpretation generally accepted in the modern Scandinavian mind. Another possibility is that the tree was formerly conceived of as a yew, consistent with its Eddic attribute of being evergreen. Ásgard, Álfheim and Vanaheim rested on the branches of Yggdrasil. The trunk was the world-axis piercing through the center of Miðgarð, around which Jotunheim was situated, and below which lay Nidavellir or Svartálfheim. The three roots stretched down to Helheim, Niflheim, and Muspelheim, although only the first world hosted a spring for Yggdrasil (see below).

Yggdrasil - Etymology and alternative names

The most commonly accepted etymology of the name is ygg "terrible" + drasil "steed". Yggr is taken to be an epithet of Odin, giving a meaning of "Odin's steed", taken to refer to the nine nights Odin is said to have spent hanging from the tree in order find the runes. The gallows are sometimes described in Old Norse poetry as the "horse of the hanged." Another interpretation of the name is "terrible horse", i. e. the association with Odin may be secondary. A third interpretation, with etymological difficulties, is "yew-column", associating the tree with the Eihwaz rune ᛇ.

Fjölsvinnsmál, a poem in the Poetic Edda, refers to the World Tree as Mimameid (ON: Mímameiðr, "Mimir's tree" ). Most probably, the tree is also identical to Lerad (ON: Læraðr) a tree whose leaves and twigs reach down to the roof of Valhalla and provide food for the goat Heiðrún and the stag Eikþyrnir that both live on the roof.

Yggdrasil - Yggdrasil in the Edda

Three roots supported the trunk, with one passing through Asgard, one through Jotunheim and one through Helheim. Beneath the Asgard root lay the sacred Well of Urd (Urðabrunnr), and there dwelt the three Nornir, over whom even the gods had no power, and who, every day, watered the tree from the primeval fountain, so that its boughs remained green. Beneath the Jotunheim root lay the spring or well of Mimir (Mímisbrunnr); and beneath the Helheim root the well Hvergelmir ("the Roaring Cauldron").

In the top of the tree was perched a giant rooster, or more often an eagle named Vidofnir, and sitting upon its forehead was a hawk named Vedrfolnir (Old Norse: Veðrfolnír). The Niflheim roots of Yggdrasil were gnawed at by a dragon, Níðhöggr. Ratatosk, a squirrel, scurried up and down the tree between Níðhöggr and the eagle, forwarding insults between them. There were also four stags feeding on the bark of Yggdrasil: Duneyrr, Durathror, Dvalin, and Dainn.

The name Yggdrasil, interpreted as "Odin's steed," is taken to Odin's self-sacrifice described in the Hávamál (although the tree is not explicitly identified as Yggdrasil):

The Germanic custom of hanging sacrificial victims from trees was probably in reference to this myth (see also Human sacrifice, Tyr). In 1950, the preserved corpse of the so-called "Tollund Man" was found in a peat bog in Jutland. The excellent level of preservation made it possible to deduce that he had been ritually hanged and respectfully consigned to the bog, not more than a hundred yards from where a ritually hanged woman had been found some decades previously.

Many people have discussed the parallels between Odin's self-sacrifice in search of knowledge and the Crucifixion, particularly as Odin, like Jesus, was pierced with a spear before death. However, while possibly influenced by Christianity the myth certainly has pre-Christian origins. Because Jesus was a Jew, Christianity is rooted in Judaism which also prophesied about a Messiah being pierced before death. Other apparent parallels between Norse Mythology and Judaism: Tree of Life connecting the Heavens and the Earth (Yggdrasill), the slaying of the most innocent and his ressurection (Baldr and Odin), the defeat of evil at the final battle at Armageddon (Ragnarok) and the creation of a new Heaven and a new Earth.

Yggdrasil is also central in the myth of Ragnarok, the end of the world. The only two humans to survive Ragnarok (there are some survivors among the gods), Lif and Lifthrasir, are able to escape by sheltering in the branches of Yggdrasil, where they feed on the dew and are protected by the tree.

"The bellowing fire will not scorch them; it will not even touch them, and their food will be the morning dew. Through the branches they will see a new sun burn as the world ends and starts again."

Yggdrasil apparently had smaller counterparts as the enormous evergreen of unknown species that stood at the Temple at Uppsala and Irminsul, which was an oak venerated by the pagan Saxons and which was said to connect heaven and earth. The Old Norse form of Irmin was Jörmun and interestingly, just like Ygg, it was one of Odin's names. It appears, then, that Irminsul may have been representing a world tree corresponding to Yggdrasil among the pagan Saxons.

It has been proposed as an explanation for the World Tree myth that the Cirrus clouds – to a ground standing observer appearing to be virtually stationary on the sky – was imagined to be the branches of a gigantic tree, turned seemingly pale the same way that far away mountains do. Accordingly, rain was held to be the dew dropping from the World Tree. Two old German synonyms for clouds, Wetterbaum and Regenbaum (meaning Weather Tree and Rain Tree), are said to attest to this hypothesis.

Yggdrasil - Popular culture

See also

• World tree
• Irminsul
• Banyan
• Axis mundi

Norse mythology

Categories: Locations in Norse mythology | Norse mythology

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Yggdrasil", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki