plant

Tree

Nature

A woody plant. World-trees, sacrificial poles, and ordinary timber are different meetings with the same kind of body.

Also known as world tree

Norse tradition

  • Tree appears in Norse tradition.

    Snorri’s Yggdrasil is an ash that stands among the worlds. It is a Norse picture of a tree, not a generic world-axis imported from elsewhere in this record.

    from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

    appears in · sourced · documented

  • Tree is associated with Three.

    Snorri gives Yggdrasil three roots reaching toward different worlds. The three is a structural count in that prose, not the Greek Moirai.

    from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

    associated with · sourced · documented

  • Tree is associated with Underworld.

    One of Yggdrasil’s roots, in Snorri, reaches toward the dead. The below is a Norse below.

    from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

    associated with · partially sourced · documented

  • Tree is associated with Death.

    The world-tree stands over wells and the dead as Snorri arranges them. The tree is not itself a tomb.

    from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

    associated with · partially sourced · documented

  • Odin is associated with Tree.

    Snorri describes the ash Yggdrasil as the world-tree among whose roots the gods hold court. Odin’s name is later tied to that tree; the pairing is Norse, not a universal axis.

    from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

    associated with · sourced · documented

  • Well is associated with Tree.

    Snorri’s ash stands over wells. The pairing is that prose’s architecture, not a universal tree-and-spring.

    from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

    associated with · sourced · documented

  • Tree contains Leaf.

    A tree makes leaves. Seasonal shedding is a botanical fact Yggdrasil does not cancel.

    contains · interpretive · documented

  • Tree is associated with Seed.

    Trees begin as seed. The world-ash of Snorri is still a plant in that sense, even as a mythic architecture.

    associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

Hellenic religion

  • Olive is associated with Tree.

    The olive is a tree. Athena’s gift is one civic story about that tree.

    from Pausanias · Description of Greece, c. 150–180 CE

    associated with · sourced · documented

sources