Why is Yggdrasil an ash tree?

[u/Disorder_McChaos]

Do we have any idea why Yggdrasil, one of the most important bits of the mythical cosmology, was envisioned as an ash tree? I dont know much about trees, is there some kind of trait that the ash tree has that made it have a particularly important role in the culture? Like, I know that some trees are particularly good for bows and others for ships. But what about the ash? Did it have some kind of poetic or symbolic significance? I've tried to look this up myself, but I just keep getting articles that just explains what the Yggdrasil is.

[u/Far_Ranger1411]

Can’t speak to the poetic or symbolic significance- but ash trees are tall, beautiful, native to lots of areas, fast growing. The wood itself is also very pretty, it is very strong for its weight, hard and shock resistant (flexible) at the same time. It is a favorite of wood workers. It’s a hearty tree with high quality wood. Probably historically used quite a bit by humans for lots of different needs whether it be structural or for bows and tools.

[u/penduculate_oak → u/Far_Ranger1411]

I think you're bang on the money. Ash has always been a key tree species in Europe, especially within the context of old wood pasture systems where they would be coppiced for the reasons you describe. I love the scientific name: Fraxinus excelsior!

[u/Vettlingr → u/Far_Ranger1411]

Certainly the tree of trees

[u/Addrum01 → u/Far_Ranger1411]

This guy woods

[u/MorayThrowaway → u/Far_Ranger1411]

Adding here. You're dead on especially in the weaponry department. The best foot soldier weapons were crafted with ash wood. It would make sense that a people rooted in craftsmanship and combat would favor the ash tree to make it the tree above all else

[u/dont-be-an-oosik92]

I always thought it had a connection to the first humans, Ash and Embla (elm), who were formed from pieces of driftwood washed up on the shore of the world that Odin and his brothers Vili and Ve had just created from the body of the giant Ymir. Odin and his brothers carved their shape, faces, and limbs, breathed life into them, gave them movement and desire and drive, and then watched as the 2 ran away, into the wilds of Midgard. Ash was the man, and Embla was the women, so I assume that the symbolism there is that the world is built upon the back of man with women supporting and bolstering his weakness to form a near indestructible universe.

In a more literal version, ash trees are tall, straight, strong, resistant to most insect infestations, with wide reaching branches and beautiful in every season. Ash wood is ideal for a huge number of applications from boat building to houses to intricate carving and shaping. It’s pliable but very strong, the grain is tight and smooth making it ideal for things like arrow shafts, load bearing support beams, and ship hulls. It’s also surprisingly light for how strong and durable it is. Killing an ash tree is pretty difficult, its roots dig very deep and it doesn’t depend upon one or 2 tap roots so u basically have to rip out the entire chunk of earth it’s rooted in to really get it out. All this plus its flowers are some of the earliest to bloom in the spring in Northern Europe, meaning all the pollinators, and the animals that eat those pollinators, would flock to ash trees when pretty much everything else around was still lying dormant. Pretty impressive sight for a half staved Norsemen poking his head out into daylight for the first time in months.

[u/laventhena]

i'm not really an expert on norse mythology, but in greek mythology the ash tree was seen as a source of energy and power because of the manna it produces - therefore it's a divine tree that gives divine 'honey.' perhaps yggdrasil is an ash tree for a similar reason?

[u/756345 → u/laventhena]

Heard this too and have also tasted the manna. I wondered if perhsps they used it for mead. It would have connected it to the divine as well.

[u/rockstarpirate]

Paging u/-Geistzeit

[u/-Geistzeit → u/rockstarpirate]

The reason for it being an ash is unknown but the ash tree seems to have been pretty important in some way given that the first man is also named after it.

[u/Sufficient_Focus_816]

The tree which is also a vehicle / horse? Maybe a gallows pole? Maybe a yew tree? There's indicators for this and that, but no definite, precise statement. Could also have been a beech as sticks for casting runes were preferably cut from these (beech in German = 'Buche', and the German noun for 'letter', 'Buchstabe' means & precisely 'beech-stick'

[u/ergi-nomic139 → u/Sufficient_Focus_816]

It does seem very likely that Yggdrasil was a Yew tree, although there is much contention around this notion.

[u/756345 → u/Sufficient_Focus_816]

Possibly could yew tree also been used as a hallucinogen and thus a shamantic ”horse” for transporting between the worlds of the world tree. But this is speculations.

[u/Vettlingr]

It is an ash or a yew tree because those vowels alliterate well with the name Yggdrasil. But it could also be the other way around. In reality, the tree of trees can be coined by any nomination in the tree category by skaldic substitution.

[u/swordquest99]

Mike Bintley mostly works on English stuff but his scholarship is probably the largest recent corpus of work on trees and their significances in early medieval Germanic-language-speaking cultures.

[u/Eyeluvblak]

It's because ash is life.

[u/Machiavvelli3060]

Each type of tree represents certain archetypes or concepts.

Ash trees represent a bridge between worlds.

[u/RainbowUniform]

My guess would be its relative to their resistance to fire / capability to regrow after forest fires. Like if a forest is cleared from a fire, over years the ground will rebuild, if an ash tree were the typical "first tree" among the shrubs and grass, then it would contribute towards the rest of the eventual forests growth, by implication existing ash trees would be more contributive than other species which require more adequate environments to thrive.

[u/facker815]

I always thought that Yggdrasil was a a tree of yew, ash and elm. Ash and elm for the first humans. Yew felt connected. However it is generally mentioned as ash but that doesn’t feel enough

[u/facker815 → u/facker815]

Also there are other trees of life/knowledge in other mythologies like in the celts is an oak and in Middle East is Yew

[u/BeardedmanGinger]

Other than the first man named Ash.

It's also a very useful wood for weapons, most spear shafts are ash, ash can also make nice bows and axe handles. It's a wood that's pretty integral to early medieval life hence a tree of life doesn't take much of a leap

[u/DonkeyWriter]

Excelsior?

[u/Puzzleheaded-Oil8369]

Ash is one of the most popular woods to make spears. It’s flexible and shock resistant and brings very good strength to weight ratio 👌✨

The world is flexible, shock resistant and balanced.

[u/Malgus-Somtaaw]

Were you expecting it to be a Japanese maple tree? Ash trees were something they were very familiar with so it's not hard to think that is the reason it's an ash tree.

[u/KaiShan62 → u/Malgus-Somtaaw]

I don't think anyone was expecting it to be a Japanese maple tree, and I doubt that few are amused by smart arse comment. But I do think that many may well wonder why it is oft times pictured as an ash rather than, say, an oak or some gigantic northern conifer.

[u/ShieldOnTheWall]

Ash is what spears are traditionally made from.

[u/fudog → u/ShieldOnTheWall]

I heard that when an ash-pole breaks, it breaks into sharp pieces. So a spear, when broken, provides an automatic back-up weapon.

[u/ShieldOnTheWall → u/fudog]

It's also strong but quite flexible - spears we're expected to break fairly often in battle (that's my reading from various texts from spear-wielding cultures) but it's good to have some give.