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The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: Y is for Yggdrasil

Saturday, 28 April 2012

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool ...



Y is for Yggdrasil

In Norse mythology/cosmology, Yggdrasil is the name of the vast tree around which earth, heaven, hell and all other worlds are arrayed. It is generally considered to be an ash tree, with branches and roots extending into all known realms.

The word is usually said to mean "Odin's Horse", deriving from Yggr, meaning Odin and drasill, a horse.




Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine Megrim Numinous Ophidian Pandemonium Quark Ragnarök Shibboleth Thing Umami Verdigris Worm Xanadu Yggdrasil

Posted by Simon Kewin at 08:00

12 comments:

  1. Rebecca Alexander28 April 2012 at 12:18

    Lovely word...how do you pronounce it, though?

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  2. Simon Kewin28 April 2012 at 13:24

    Rebecca - Personally, I'd probably pronounce it ... incorrectly.

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  3. Karen Jones Gowen28 April 2012 at 18:24

    Ha! Are you sure you aren't making that up? It looks like you just typed random keys LOL.

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  4. Maria28 April 2012 at 19:35

    I didn't know that! I've learnt something new today.

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  5. S. L. Hennessy28 April 2012 at 22:17

    I really like Norse mythology. I'm new to it, but it's so much fun to study.

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  6. Guilie Castillo28 April 2012 at 23:05

    Another newbie Norse mythology fan here--thanks for the lesson!

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  7. Mark Paul29 April 2012 at 00:35

    I find this fascinating. A friend of mine was very much into Norse myth, however he was never able to communicate on a level where you didn't end up looking for a simpler definition in Websters. I will definitely be following your page from now on.

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  8. Nicole29 April 2012 at 01:40

    That is quite the word...

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  9. Reid Kemper29 April 2012 at 07:04

    I love that word. The first I heard of it was not from myth but actually in a game called "Xenogears," which used it for the name of a sand cruiser. The name also is used in Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos book series and the "Tales of Symphonia" video game. Funny thing is, I just heard the name a few days ago, then saw it here.

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  10. Simon Kewin29 April 2012 at 19:45

    Karen - As if I would!

    Maria - Glad it was of interest.

    S. L./Guilie - It is fascinating.

    Chronicles - Wonderful! Many thanks for dropping by.

    Nicole - Worth a ton in Scrabble!

    Reid - Yep, it's a word that crops up surprisingly often. I knew about Hyperion. I've also seen it recently in a DragonQuest game on the DS.

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  11. The Rambling Pages29 April 2012 at 20:23

    Really interesting post - we have recently started watching a TV series about Gods and Goddess' which has really sparked my interest in Norse mythology so really enjoyed this. Popping by to say Hi from the A-z Challenge www.theramblingpages.blogspot.co.uk x

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  12. Simon Kewin29 April 2012 at 21:06

    Rambling - Thanks. It is fascinating stuff.

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I'd love to know what you think.