thumb|333px|An illustration of Náströnd (1895) by [[Lorenz Frølich.]]

In Norse mythology, Náströnd ("Corpse Shore") is a place in Hel where Níðhöggr devours the dead souls of the dishonorable. It is the afterlife for those guilty of murder, and severe oath-breaking.

Orthography

In the standardized Old Norse orthography, the name was spelled Nástrǫnd, which in 11th century Old West Norse was pronounced . In Modern Icelandic the letter 'ǫ' is replaced by ö, and Náströnd is pronounced .

Poetic Edda

The Völuspá says:

{|

|

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

::Völuspá 38-39, Dronke's edition

|

:A hall she saw standing

:remote from the sun

:on Dead Body Shore.

:Its door looks north.

:There fell drops of venom

:in through the roof vent.

:That hall is woven

:of serpents’ spines.

:She saw there wading

:onerous streams

:men perjured

:and wolfish murderers

:and the one who seduces

:another’s close-trusted wife.

:There Malice Striker sucked

:corpses of the dead,

:the wolf tore men.

:Do you still seek to know? And what?

::Völuspá 38-39, Dronke's translation

|

|}

Prose Edda

Snorri Sturluson quotes this part of Völuspá in the Gylfaginning section of his Prose Edda. He uses the plural of the word: Nástrandir (Corpse Shores).

{|

|

:Á Náströndum er mikill salr ok illr, ok horfa í norðr dyrr, hann er ok ofinn allr ormahryggjum sem vandahús, en ormahöfuð öll vitu inn í húsit ok blása eitri, svá at eptir salnum renna eitrár, ok vaða þær ár eiðrofar ok morðvargar, svá sem hér segir:

::Sal veit ek standa

::sólu fjarri

::Náströndu á,

::norðr horfa dyrr.

::Falla eitrdropar

::inn of ljóra.

::Sá er undinn salr

::orma hryggjum.

::Skulu þar vaða

::þunga strauma

::menn meinsvara

::ok morðvargar.

:En í Hvergelmi er verst:

::Þar kvelr Níðhöggr

::nái framgengna. Gylfaginning 52, EB's edition

|

:On Nástrand [Strand of the Dead] is a great hall and evil, and its doors face to the north: it is all woven of serpent-backs like a wattle-house; and all the snake-heads turn into the house and blow venom, so that along the hall run rivers of venom; and they who have broken oaths, and murderers, wade those rivers, even as it says here:

::I know a hall standing

::far from the sun,

::In Nástrand:

::the doors to northward are turned;

::Venom-drops falls

::down from the roof-holes;

::That hall is bordered

::with backs of serpents.

::There are doomed to wade

::the weltering streams

::Men that are mansworn,

::and they that murderers are.

:But it is worst in Hvergelmir:

::There the cursed snake tears

::dead men's corpses. Gylfaginning 52, Brodeur's translation

|

|}

See also

  • Hel (being)
  • Hel (realm)
  • Niflheim
  • Niflhel
  • Niðafjöll

References

  • Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (transl.) (1916). The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation. Available online
  • Dronke, Ursula (ed.) (1997) The Poetic Edda: Mythological Poems. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .
  • Eysteinn Björnsson (ed.). Snorra-Edda: Formáli & Gylfaginning : Textar fjögurra meginhandrita. 2005. Available online