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The context and meaning of this stanza are disputed. Níðhöggr/Níðhǫggr is also mentioned at the end of Völuspá, where he is identified as a dragon and a serpent.
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The first instance is in its description of Náströnd. The poem Völuspá mentions Níðhöggr/Níðhǫggr twice. Snorri Sturluson often quotes Grímnismál and clearly used it as his source for this information. 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. The tree suffers great hardship from all the creatures which live on it. The poem Grímnismál identifies a number of beings which live in Yggdrasill. Later in Skáldskaparmál, Snorri includes Níðhǫggr in a list of various terms and names for swords. Snorri's knowledge of Níðhǫggr seems to come from two of the Eddic poems: Grímnismál and Völuspá. These are names for serpents: dragon, Fafnir, Jormungand, adder, Nidhogg, snake, viper, Goin, Moin, Grafvitnir, Grabak, Ofnir, Svafnir, masked one.
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In the Skáldskaparmál section of the Prose Edda Snorri specifies Níðhǫggr as a serpent in a list of names of such creatures: The same source also says that "he squirrel called Ratatoskr runs up and down the length of the Ash, bearing envious words between the eagle and Nídhǫggr. This root is placed over Niflheimr and Níðhǫggr gnaws it from beneath. It is sometimes believed that the roots are trapping the beast from the world. Prose EddaĪccording to the Gylfaginning part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, Níðhǫggr is a being which gnaws one of the three roots of Yggdrasill. The Danish forms Danish: Nidhug and Danish: Nidhøg can also be encountered or Norwegian Norwegian: Nidhogg and Swedish Swedish: Nidhögg. The Modern Icelandic form Icelandic: Níðhöggur is also sometimes seen, with special characters or similarly anglicized. 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. In the standardized Old Norse orthography, the name is spelled Norse, Old: Níðhǫggr, but the letter Norse, Old: ] is frequently replaced with the Modern Icelandic Icelandic: ] for reasons of familiarity or technical expediency. Thus, its name might refer to its role as a horrific monster in its action of chewing the corpses of the inhabitants of Náströnd: those guilty of murder, rape, and oath-breaking, which Norse society considered among the worst possible. In historical Viking society, níð was a term for a social stigma implying the loss of honor and the status of a villain. In Norse mythology, Níðhöggr ( Malice Striker, in Old Norse traditionally also spelled Níðhǫggr in Norse, Old pronounced as /ˈniːðˌhɔɡːz̠/, often anglicized Nidhogg ) is a dragon/ serpent who gnaws at a root of the world tree, Yggdrasil.