Naglfar
Sign in to saveIn Norse mythology, Naglfar or Naglfari (Old Norse "nail farer") is a boat made entirely from the fingernails and toenails of the dead. During the events of Ragnarök, Naglfar is foretold to sail to Vígríðr, ferrying hordes of monsters that will do battle with the gods. Naglfar is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, also composed in the 13th century. The boat itself has been connected by scholars with a larger pattern of ritual hair and nail disposal among Indo-Europeans, stemming from Proto-Indo-European custom, and it
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8 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Attestations
- Tullstorp Runestone
- Interpretations and theories
- Cultural influence
- See also
- Citations
- General and cited references
In Norse mythology, Naglfar or Naglfari (Old Norse "nail farer") is a boat made entirely from the fingernails and toenails of the dead. During the events of Ragnarök, Naglfar is foretold to sail to Vígríðr, ferrying hordes of monsters that will do battle with the gods. Naglfar is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, also composed in the 13th century. The boat itself has been connected by scholars with a larger pattern of ritual hair and nail disposal among Indo-Europeans, stemming from Proto-Indo-European custom, and it may be depicted on the Tullstorp Runestone in Scania, Sweden.
==Etymology== Some dispute has waged over the etymology of Naglfar. In the late 19th century, Adolf Noreen proposed that nagl- here does not have its usual meaning of "nail", but, instead, is a variant of Old Norse nár (meaning "corpse") and ultimately derives from Proto-Indo-European *nok-w-i. Noreen claimed that the notion of Naglfar as a 'nail-ship' is due to a folk etymology; that elaboration on the folk etymology produced the concept of a "nail-ship".