Editing Náströnd

{{Short description|Place in Hel in Norse belief}}
[[Image:Náströnd by Frølich.jpg|thumb|333px|An illustration of Náströnd (1895) by [[Lorenz Frølich]].]]
In [[Norse mythology]], '''Náströnd''' ("Corpse Shore") is a place in [[Hel (realm)|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 [[First Grammatical Treatise|11th century]] [[Old West Norse]] was pronounced {{IPA|non|ˈnɑːˌstrɔnd|}}. In [[Modern Icelandic]] the letter '[[ǫ]]' is replaced by [[ö]], and '''Náströnd''' is pronounced {{IPA|is|ˈnauˌstrœnt|}}.

==''Poetic Edda''==
The ''[[Völuspá]]'' says:

{|
|
:{{lang|non|Sal sá hón standa}}
:{{lang|non|sólo fiarri,}}
:{{lang|non|Nástrǫndu á,}}
:{{lang|non|norðr horfa dyrr.}}
:{{lang|non|Fello eitrdropar}}
:{{lang|non|inn um lióra.}}
:{{lang|non|Sá er undinn salr}}
:{{lang|non|orma hryggiom.}}

:{{lang|non|Sá hón þar vaða}}
:{{lang|non|þunga strauma}}
:{{lang|non|menn meinsvara}}
:{{lang|non|ok morðvarga}}
:{{lang|non|ok þannz annars glepr}}
:{{lang|non|eyrarúno.}}
:{{lang|non|Þar saug [[Níðhǫggr]]}}
:{{lang|non|nái framgengna,}}
:{{lang|non|sleit vargr vera.}}

:{{lang|non|Vitoð ér enn, eða hvat?}}
::''Völuspá'' 38-39, [[Ursula Dronke|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, [[Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur|Brodeur]]'s translation
|
|}

==See also==
*[[Hel (being)]]
*[[Hel (realm)]]
*[[Niflheim]]
*[[Niflhel]]
*[[Niðafjöll]]

==References==

* [[Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur|Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist]] (transl.) (1916). ''The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson''. New York: [[The American-Scandinavian Foundation]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_T1cAAAAMAAJ Available online]
* [[Ursula Dronke|Dronke, Ursula]] (ed.) (1997) ''The Poetic Edda: Mythological Poems''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-811181-9}}.
* Eysteinn Björnsson (ed.). ''Snorra-Edda: Formáli & Gylfaginning : Textar fjögurra meginhandrita''. 2005. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080611212105/http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/gg/ Available online]

{{Death in Germanic mythology}}
{{Hell}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nastrond}}
[[Category:Locations in Norse mythology]]
[[Category:Norse underworld]]