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In Norse mythology, 'Níðhöggr' (''Malice Striker'', often anglicized 'Nidhogg'^[1]) is a dragon who eats the roots of the World Tree, Yggdrasill.

Contents

Prose Edda

Poetic Edda

Níðhöggr's name

See also

Notes

References

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 "[t]he squirrel called Ratatöskr runs up and down the length of the Ash, bearing envious words between the eagle and Nídhöggr"^[2].
In the ''Skáldskaparmál'' section of the ''Prose Edda'' Snorri specifies Níðhöggr as a serpent in a list of names of such creatures:
:"These are names for serpents: dragon, Fafnir, Iormungand, adder, Nidhogg, snake, viper, Goin, Moin, Grafvitnir, Grabak, Ofnir, Svafnir, masked one." (Faulkes translation, p.137)
Snorri's knowledge of Níðhöggr seems to come from two of the Eddic poems: ''Grímnismál'' and ''Völuspá''.
Later in ''Skáldskaparmál'' Snorri includes Níðhöggr in a list of various terms and names for swords.^[3]

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 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 used it as his source for this information.
The poem ''Völuspá'' mentions Níðhöggr twice. The first instance is in its description of Náströnd.

Eysteinn Björnsson's edition	Thorpe's translation	Dronke's translation
:Sal sá hon standa :sólu fjarri :Náströndu á,:norðr horfa dyrr. :Fellu eitrdropar :inn um ljóra, :sá er undinn salr :orma hryggjum. :Sá hon þar vaða :þunga strauma :menn meinsvara :ok morðvarga :ok þanns annars glepr :eyrarúnu.:Þar saug Niðhöggr :nái framgengna,:sleit vargr vera -:vituð ér enn, eða hvat ?	:She saw a hall standing,:far from the sun,:in Náströnd;:its doors are northward turned,:venom-drops fall:in through its apertures::entwined is that hall:with serpent’s backs.:She there saw wading:the sluggish streams:bloodthirsty men:and perjurers,:and him who the ear beguiles:of another’s wife.:There Nidhögg sucks:the corpses of the dead;:the wolf tears men.:Understand ye yet, or what?	:A hall she saw standing:remote from the sun:on Dead Body Shore.:Its door looks north.:There fell drops of venom:in through the roof vent.:That hall is woven:of serpents' spines.:She saw there wading:onerous streams:men perjured:and wolfish murderers:and the one who seduces:another's close-trusted wife.:There Malice Striker sucked:corpses of the dead,:the wolf tore men.:Do you still seek to know? And what?

Níðhöggr is also mentioned at the end of ''Völuspá'', where he is identified as a dragon and a serpent.

Eysteinn Björnsson's edition	Bellows' translation	Dronke's translation
:Þar kømr inn dimmi :dreki fljúgandi,:naðr fránn, neðan :frá Niðafjöllum. :Berr sér í fjöðrum :- flýgr völl yfir - :Níðhöggr nái -:nú mun hon søkkvask.	:From below the dragon:dark comes forth,:Nithhogg flying:from Nithafjoll;:The bodies of men:on his wings he bears,:The serpent bright::but now must I sink.	:There comes the shadowy:dragon flying,:glittering serpent, up:from Dark of the Moon Hills.:He carries in his pinions:—he flies over the field—:Malice Striker, corpses.:Now will she sink.

The context and meaning of this stanza is disputed. The most prevalent opinion is that the arrival of Níðhöggr heralds Ragnarök and thus that the poem ends on a tone of ominous warning.
Níðhöggr is not mentioned elsewhere in any ancient source.

Níðhöggr's name

In the standardized Old Norse orthography the name is spelled '' or '' but the letter '' is frequently replaced with the Modern Icelandic 'ö' for reasons of familiarity or technical expediency.
The name can be represented in English texts as ''Nidhogg'', ''Nidhoggr'', ''Nithhogg'', ''Nidhögg'', ''Nidhöggr'', ''Nithhöggr'', ''Nídhöggr'', ''Nithhoggr'', ''Nidhhogg'', ''Níðhögg'', ''Niðhoggr'', ''Níðhoggr'', ''Nídhögg'', ''Hidhaegg'', or ''Nidhhoggr''. The Modern Icelandic forms ''Níðhöggur'' and ''Niðhöggur'' are also sometimes seen and sometimes Anglicized as ''Nidhoggur''. The Danish form ''Nidhug'' or "Nidhøg" can also be encountered.

See also

★ Jörmungandr

Notes

1. 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'').
2. ''Gylfaginning'' XVI, Brodeur's translation.
3. Faulkes translation, p.159

References

★ Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989). ''Íslensk orðsifjabók''. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.

★ Bellows, Henry Adams. Translation of the Poetic Edda. Available at [1].

★ Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (transl.) (1916). ''The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson''. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation. ''Available online at http://www.northvegr.org/lore/prose/index.php''.

★ Dronke, Ursula (1997). ''The Poetic Edda : Volume II : Mythological Poems''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. In particular p. 18 and pp. 124-5.

★ Eysteinn Björnsson (ed.). ''Snorra-Edda: Formáli & Gylfaginning : Textar fjögurra meginhandrita''. 2005. http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/gg/

★ Eysteinn Björnsson (ed.). ''Völuspá''. http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/vsp3.html

★ Faulkes, Anthony (transl. and ed.) (1987). ''Edda'' (Snorri Sturluson). Everyman. ISBN 0-460-87616-3

★ Finnur Jónsson (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. ISBN 1576072177.

★ Thorpe, Benjamin (tr.) (1866). ''Edda Sæmundar Hinns Froða : The Edda Of Sæmund The Learned''. (2 vols.) London: Trübner & Co. Available online at http://www.northvegr.org/lore/poetic2/000.php