Eagle on the Nordic World Tree

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The world tree eagle and the hawk Vedrfölnir on the tree Yggdrasil. Icelandic manuscript, 17th century.

In Norse mythology there is an eagle on the world tree Yggdrasil , whose name is unknown.

swell

The eagle on the World Tree is the subject of the song Grímnismál in the Song Edda :

“Ratatoscr is called ícorni,
he renna scal
at asci Yggdrasils;
arnar orð
hann scal ofan bera
oc segia Níðhǫggvi niðr. "

“ Ratatosk is the name of the squirrel that
leaps around
on the Yggdrasil ash; it carries
the eagle's words
down from above
and says it below Nidhögg . "

- Grímnismál, Stophe 32 (translation after Arnulf Krause)

The pair of opposites Adler – Nidhöggr suggests that this passage in the song Völuspá also means the world tree eagle, as one assumes that the bleaching of the nose is probably meant by Nidhöggr. The passage deals with the beginning of the Ragnarök , the end times of the gods .

"[...] enn ari hlaccar,
slítr nái neffǫlr [...]"

"[...] the eagle screams,
the bleached nose tears the dead, [...]"

- Völuspá, verse 50 (translation by Arnulf Krause)

This part of the Völuspá could also be about the World Tree Eagle. It relates to the time after the Ragnarök, when the earth rises again from the sea at the end and the events on the world tree continue.

“Sér hon upp koma ǫðro
sinni iorð ór ægi, iðiagrœna;
falla forsar, flýgr ǫrn yfir,
sá er á fialli fisca veiðir. "

“She sees
the earth rise a second time out of the sea, which is newly green;
Waterfalls plunge, the eagle flies over them,
hunting fish on the rock. "

- Völuspá, verse 59 (translation by Arnulf Krause)

Snorri Sturluson possibly didn't know what to do with these Völuspá positions. In his Prose Edda he only refers to the song Grímnismál and thus to the dispute between the eagle and the dragon.

“Örn an sitr í limum asksins, ok he hann margs vitandi
en í milli augna honum sitr haukr, sá he is called Veðrfölnir.
Íkorni sá, his name is Ratatoskr, renn upp ok niðr eftir askinum
ok berr öfundarorð milli arnarins ok Níðhöggs, [...] "

“An eagle sits in the branches of the ash tree, it has a lot of knowledge
and the hawk named Wedrfölnir sits between its eyes.
The squirrel, called Ratatosk, jumps up and down the ash tree.
It exchanges venom between the eagle and Nidhögg. "

- Snorri Sturluson, Prose-Edda: Gylfaginning, Chapter 16 (translation by Arnulf Krause)

research

Like the world tree on which it sits, the eagle belongs to the mythological legacy of the Indo-European era. The Indian mythology knows an eagle called Garuda , who lives just in the crown of a tree, at its roots, snakes, Nagas are called. In the Iranian world tree, the Saena tree , sits an eagle-like bird named Saena .

The motif between the eagle and the dragon could also be a motif from the Indo-European era. In Indian mythology, too, the eagle and the snake quarrel. In a fable by the Roman poet Phaedrus , a cat on a tree creates enmity between an eagle in the air and a wild boar by the roots. The quarrel between the eagle and the dragon could symbolize the conflict between the constructive and the destructive forces of the world, the gods and the giants, but this is not necessarily thought to be likely in science.

See also

  • Hræsvelgr , another eagle in Norse mythology, which is sometimes equated with the world tree eagle.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lieder-Edda: Grímnismál, verse 32. Text edition based on the Titus Project, URL: http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/germ/anord/edda/edda.htm , accessed on April 9, 2013
  2. ↑ a b c Translation after Arnulf Krause: The songs of gods and heroes of the Elder Edda. Philipp Reclam jun. Verlag, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 978-3-15-050047-7
  3. ↑ Lieder-Edda: Völuspá, stanza 50. Text edition based on the Titus Project, URL: http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/germ/anord/edda/edda.htm , accessed on April 9, 2013
  4. ↑ Lieder-Edda: Völuspá, verse 59. Text edition based on the Titus Project, URL: http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/germ/anord/edda/edda.htm , accessed on April 9, 2013
  5. ^ Arnulf Krause: The Edda of Snorri Sturluson. Philipp Reclam jun. Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 978-3-15-000782-2
  6. ↑ Jan de Vries : Old Germanic history of religion, Volume 2: Religion of the North Germanic. Verlag Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin, Leipzig 1937, § 328, but his name is Hom .
  7. ↑ Jan de Vries: Old Germanic history of religion, Volume 2: Religion of the North Germanic. Verlag Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin, Leipzig 1937, § 328 - Rudolf Simek : Lexicon of Germanic mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X , p. 343 points out that these parallels do not allow a reliable conclusion about the age of the motive for the dispute.
  8. ^ Henry Adams Bellows: The Poetic Edda. The Mythological Poems. Courier Dover Publications, Mineola NY 2004, ISBN 978-0-486-43710-1 , p. 97, note 32 online excerpt