Níðhöggr (Malice Striker, often anglicized Nidhogg[1]) in Norse mythology, is a dragon who eats the roots of the World Tree, Yggdrasill.
Níðhöggr - Prose Edda.
According to the Gylfaginning part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, Níðhöggr is a being which gnaws one of the three roots of Yggdrasill. This root is placed over Niflheimr and Níðhöggr gnaws it from beneath. The same source also says that ...
The poem Grímnismál identifies a number of beings which live in Yggdrasill. The tree suffers great hardship from all the creatures which live on it. The poem identifies Níðhöggr as tearing at the tree from beneath and also mentions Ratatoskr as carrying messages between Níðhöggr and the eagle who lives at the top of the tree. Snorri Sturluson often quotes Grímnismál and clearly ...
According to the Gylfaginning part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, Níðhöggr is a being which gnaws one of the three roots of Yggdrasill. This root is placed over Niflheimr and Níðhöggr gnaws it from beneath. The same source also says that "[t]he squirrel called Ratatöskr runs up and down the length of the Ash, bearing envious words between the eagle and Nídhöggr" (Brodeur's translation).
Snorri does not specify what kind of being Níðhöggr is. All he knew about him seems to come from two of the Eddic poems; ...
^ While the suffix of the name, -höggr, clearly means "striker" the prefix is not as clear. In particular the length of the first vowel is not determined in the original sources. Some scholars prefer the reading Niðhöggr (Striker in the Dark).
In the standardized Old Norse orthography the name is spelled Níðhǫggr or Niðhǫggr but the letter 'ǫ' is frequently replaced with the Modern Icelandic 'ö' f ...
