Squirrel Facts (Ratatoskr)

1.0RENATUREDhttps://o-matic.com/blogMarinahttps://o-matic.com/blog/blog/author/admin/Squirrel Facts (Ratatoskr)<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Die_Eiche_Yggdrasil_by_Friedrich_Wilhelm_Heine.jpg"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Die_Eiche_Yggdrasil_by_Friedrich_Wilhelm_Heine.jpg/473px-Die_Eiche_Yggdrasil_by_Friedrich_Wilhelm_Heine.jpg" alt="Yggdrasil the world tree" width="375" height="476" /></a> <div class="mceTemp mceIEcenter"><dl class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 385px;"> <dd class="wp-caption-dd">Yggdrasil the world tree. Wägner, Wilhelm. 1882. Nordisch-germanische Götter und Helden</dd> </dl></div> In <a title="Norse mythology" href="https://www.amazines.com/Norse_mythology_related.html">Norse mythology</a>, Ratatoskr (<a title="Old Norse" href="https://www.amazines.com/Old_Norse_related.html">Old Norse</a>, generally considered "drill-tooth"<a href="https://www.amazines.com/_cite_note-DRILL-TOOTH-0_related.html"></a> or "bore-tooth"<a href="https://www.amazines.com/_cite_note-LINDOW259-1_related.html"></a>) is a <a title="Squirrel" href="https://www.amazines.com/Squirrel_related.html">squirrel</a> who runs up and down the <a title="World tree" href="https://www.amazines.com/World_tree_related.html">world tree</a> <a title="Yggdrasil" href="https://www.amazines.com/Yggdrasil_related.html">Yggdrasil</a> to carry messages between the <a title="Veðrfölnir and eagle" href="https://www.amazines.com/Ve%C3%B0rf%C3%B6lnir_and_eagle_related.html">unnamed eagle</a>, perched atop Yggdrasil, and the <a title="Wyrm" href="https://www.amazines.com/Wyrm_related.html">wyrm</a> <a title="Níðhöggr" href="https://www.amazines.com/N%C3%AD%C3%B0h%C3%B6ggr_related.html">Níðhöggr</a>, who dwells beneath one of the three roots of the tree. Ratatoskr is attested in the <a title="Poetic Edda" href="https://www.amazines.com/Poetic_Edda_related.html">Poetic Edda</a>, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the <a title="Prose Edda" href="https://www.amazines.com/Prose_Edda_related.html">Prose Edda</a>, written in the 13th century by <a title="Snorri Sturluson" href="https://www.amazines.com/Snorri_Sturluson_related.html">Snorri Sturluson</a>. Scholars have proposed theories about the implications of the squirrel.The name Ratatoskr contains two elements rata- and -toskr. The element toskr is generally held to mean "tusk". <a title="Guðbrandur Vigfússon" href="https://www.amazines.com/Gu%C3%B0brandur_Vigf%C3%BAsson_related.html">Guðbrandur Vigfússon</a> theorized that the rati- element means "the traveller". Vigfússon says that the name of the legendary drill <a title="Rati (Norse mythology)" href="https://www.amazines.com/Rati_%28Norse_mythology%29_related.html">Rati</a> may feature the same term. According to Vigfússon, Ratatoskr means "tusk the traveller" or "the climber tusk." I am looking for more information on this character. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Image of Rataoskr from the Edda Oblongata, Icelandic manuscript, 1680"]<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AM_738_4to_Ratatoskr.png"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/AM_738_4to_Ratatoskr.png" alt="Image of Rataoskr from the Edda Oblongata, Icelandic manuscript, 1680" width="320" height="577" /></a>[/caption] Here's a nice map of the Tree's cosmology: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="420" caption="Map of tree from the blog, Le paganisme germanique et scandinave"]<a href="http://brimir.cowblog.fr/"><img src="http://brimir.cowblog.fr/images/1/2462338.jpg" alt="Map of tree from brimir Le paganisme germanique et scandinave" width="420" height="456" /></a>[/caption]rich