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 as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
, Náströnd ("Corpse Shore") is a place in
Hel where
Níðhöggr
(, , , "Malice Biter/Striker"?), often anglicized Nidhogg, is a Germanic dragon in Norse mythology who is said to gnaw at the roots of the world tree, Yggdrasil, and is likewise associated with the dead in Hel and Niflheim.
Etymology
Whi ...
devours the dead souls of the dishonorable. It is the afterlife for those guilty of
murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
, and severe
oath-breaking.
Orthography
In the standardized
Old Norse orthography
The orthography of the Old Norse language was diverse, being written in both Runes, Runic and Latin alphabet, Latin alphabets, with many spelling conventions, variant letterforms, and unique letters and signs. In modern times, scholars established ...
, the name was spelled ''Nástrǫnd'', which in
11th century
The 11th century is the period from 1001 (represented by the Roman numerals MI) through 1100 (MC) in accordance with the Julian calendar, and the 1st century of the 2nd millennium.
In the history of Europe, this period is considered the early ...
Old West Norse
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...
was pronounced . In
Modern Icelandic
Icelandic ( ; , ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Since it is a West Scandinavian language, it ...
the letter '
ǫ' is replaced by
ö, and Náströnd is pronounced .
''Poetic Edda''
The ''
Völuspá
''Völuspá'' (also ''Vǫluspá'', ''Vǫlospá'', or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress') is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It dates back to the tenth century and tells the story from Norse Mythology of ...
'' says:
''Prose Edda''
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 ...
quotes this part of Völuspá in the ''
Gylfaginning
''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first main part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'', after the initial Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' takes the form of ...
'' section of his
Prose Edda
The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...
. He uses the plural of the word: Nástrandir (''Corpse Shores'').
See also
*
Hel (being)
Hel (Old Norse) is a female being in Norse mythology who is said to preside over an underworld realm of the Hel (location), same name, where she receives a portion of the dead. Hel is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th centur ...
*
Hel (realm)
Hel (Old Norse: ), also known as Helheim, is an Death in Norse paganism, afterlife location in Norse mythology and Old Norse religion, paganism. It is ruled over by a being of the same name, Hel (being), Hel. In late Icelandic sources, varying ...
*
Niflheim
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: ''Gylfagin ...
*
Niflhel
*
Niðafjöll
References
*
Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (transl.) (1916). ''The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson''. 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 Swe ...
Available online*
Dronke, Ursula (ed.) (1997) ''The Poetic Edda: Mythological Poems''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .
* Eysteinn Björnsson (ed.). ''Snorra-Edda: Formáli & Gylfaginning : Textar fjögurra meginhandrita''. 2005
Available online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nastrond
Places in Norse mythology
Norse underworld