In
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern per ...
, Níðhöggr (''Malice Striker'', in
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
traditionally also spelled Níðhǫggr , often
anglicized
Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influenc ...
Nidhogg
[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'').]) is a
dragon
A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted a ...
who gnaws at a root of the
world tree
The world tree is a motif present in several religions and mythologies, particularly Indo-European religions, Siberian religions, and Native American religions. The world tree is represented as a colossal tree which supports the heavens, thereb ...
,
Yggdrasil. In historical
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
society,
níð was a term for a
social stigma
Social stigma is the disapproval of, or discrimination against, an individual or group based on perceived characteristics that serve to distinguish them from other members of a society. Social stigmas are commonly related to culture, gender, ra ...
, implying the loss of honor and the status of a
villain
A villain (also known as a " black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. '' Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a charact ...
. Thus, its name might refer to its role as a terrible monster in its action of chewing the corpses of the inhabitants of
Náströnd: those guilty of murder, adultery, and oath-breaking.
Orthography
In the standardized
Old Norse orthography
The orthography of the Old Norse language was diverse, being written in both Runic and Latin alphabets, with many spelling conventions, variant letterforms, and unique letters and signs. In modern times, scholars established a standardized spellin ...
, the name is spelled ', but the letter ' is frequently replaced with the Modern Icelandic ' for reasons of familiarity or technical expediency.
The name can be
represented in English texts with ''i'' for ''í''; ''th'', ''d'' or (rarely) ''dh'' for ''ð''; ''o'' for ''ǫ'' and optionally without ''r'' as in Modern Scandinavian reflexes. The
Modern Icelandic
Icelandic (; is, íslenska, link=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Due to being a West Scandinavian language, it is most closely re ...
form ' is also sometimes seen, with special characters or similarly anglicized. The
Danish forms ' and ' can also be encountered; or
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
' and
Swedish '.
Prose Edda
According to the ''
Gylfaginning
''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; c. 20,000 words; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'' after the Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' deals with t ...
'' part of
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...
's ''
Prose Edda
The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been ...
'', Níðhǫggr is a being which gnaws one of the three roots of
Yggdrasill
Yggdrasil (from Old Norse ), in Norse cosmology, is an immense and central sacred tree. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds.
Yggdrasil is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'' compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional ...
. It is sometimes believed that the roots are trapping the beast from the world. This root is placed over
Niflheimr
In Norse cosmology, Niflheim or Niflheimr (Old Norse: ; "World of Mist", literally "Home of Mist") is a location which sometimes overlaps with the notions of Niflhel and Hel. The name ''Niflheimr'' appears only in two extant sources: ''Gylfaginn ...
and Níðhǫggr gnaws it from beneath. The same source also says that "
e squirrel called
Ratatoskr
In Norse mythology, Ratatoskr (Old Norse, generally considered to mean "drill-tooth"Orchard (1997:129), Simek (2007:261), and Byock (2005:173). or "bore-tooth"Lindow (2001:259).) is a squirrel who runs up and down the world tree Yggdrasil to carry ...
runs up and down the length of the Ash, bearing envious words between the
eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...
and Nídhǫggr
he snake"
In the ''
Skáldskaparmál
''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Language of Poetry'; c. 50,000 words; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda''.
The section consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry, ...
'' section of the ''Prose Edda'' Snorri specifies Níðhǫggr as a serpent in a list of names of such creatures:
:These are names for serpents: dragon,
Fafnir,
Jormungand, adder, Nidhogg, snake, viper, Goin, Moin, Grafvitnir, Grabak, Ofnir, Svafnir, masked one.
Snorri's knowledge of Níðhǫggr seems to come from two of the
Eddic poem
The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic med ...
s: ''
Grímnismál
''Grímnismál'' (Old Norse: ; 'The Lay of Grímnir') is one of the mythological poems of the ''Poetic Edda''. It is preserved in the Codex Regius manuscript and the AM 748 I 4to fragment. It is spoken through the voice of ''Grímnir'', one of ...
'' and ''
Völuspá
''Vǫluspá'' (also ''Völuspá'', ''Vǫlospá'' or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress'; reconstructed Old Norse: ) is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It tells the story of the creation of the world and ...
''.
Later in ''Skáldskaparmál'', Snorri includes Níðhǫggr in a list of various terms and names for swords.
[Faulkes translation, p.159]
Poetic Edda
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 Níðhǫggr as tearing at the tree from beneath and also mentions Ratatoskr as carrying messages between Níðhǫggr and the eagle who lives at the top of the tree. Snorri Sturluson often quotes Grímnismál and clearly used it as his source for this information.
The poem ''Völuspá'' mentions Níðhöggr/Níðhǫggr twice. The first instance is in its description of
Náströnd.
Níðhöggr/Níðhǫggr is also mentioned at the end of ''Völuspá'', where he is identified as a dragon and a serpent.
The context and meaning of this stanza are disputed. The most prevalent opinion is that the arrival of Níðhǫggr heralds
Ragnarök
In Norse mythology, (; non, wikt:ragnarǫk, Ragnarǫk) is a series of events, including a great battle, foretelling the death of numerous great figures (including the Æsir, gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki), natural disast ...
and thus that the poem ends on a tone of ominous warning. It could be, however, as the prevalent themes of Norse mythology are those of change and renewal, that this could be a 'redemption' of the serpent, 'shedding' the corpses and beginning life anew, much like a macabre Phoenix, or perhaps, lifting the bodies of the righteous rulers mentioned two stanzas before (the stanza immediately before is considered spurious by translator Henry Adam Bellows), so that they can dwell in Gimle, and then either Níðhǫggr sinks, or the völva sinks, depending on the translation, and the poem ends.
Níðhǫggr is not mentioned elsewhere in any ancient source.
See also
*
Zygarde
References
Bibliography
* Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989). ''Íslensk orðsifjabók''. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
*
Bellows, Henry Adams (trans.) (1923) ''The Poetic Edda''. New York:
The American-Scandinavian Foundation
The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) is an American non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting international understanding through educational and cultural exchange between the United States and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Swede ...
. Available online i
www.voluspa (org)
*
Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (trans.) (1916). ''The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson''. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation. Available a
Google Books
*
Dronke, Ursula (1997). ''The Poetic Edda : Volume II : Mythological Poems''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. In particular p. 18 and pp. 124–25.
* Eysteinn Björnsson (ed.). ''Snorra-Edda: Formáli & Gylfaginning : Textar fjögurra meginhandrita''. 2005. Availabl
online
* Eysteinn Björnsson (ed.). ''Völuspá''. Availabl
*Faulkes, Anthony (transl. and ed.) (1987). ''Edda'' (Snorri Sturluson).
Everyman
The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them.
Origin
The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...
. .
*
Finnur Jónsson
Finnur Jónsson (May 29, 1858 – March 30, 1934) was an Icelandic-Danish philologist and Professor of Nordic Philology at the University of Copenhagen. He made extensive contributions to the study of Old Norse literature.
Finnur Jónsson was b ...
(1913). ''Goðafræði Norðmanna og Íslendinga eftir heimildum''. Reykjavík: Hið íslenska bókmentafjelag.
* Finnur Jónsson (1931). ''Lexicon Poeticum''. København: S. L. Møllers Bogtrykkeri.
*
Lindow, John (2001). ''Handbook of Norse mythology''. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio. .
*
Thorpe, Benjamin (tr.) (1866). ''Edda Sæmundar Hinns Froða: The Edda Of Sæmund The Learned''. (2 vols.) London: Trübner & Co. Available online in the
Norroena Society edition a
Google Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nidhoggr
Creatures in Norse mythology
European dragons
Legendary serpents