Detter, is that the name Yggdrasill refers to the word yggr ('terror'), yet not in reference to the Odinic name, and so Yggdrasill would then mean 'tree of terror, gallows'. Both of these etymologies rely on a presumed but unattested *Yggsdrasill. According to this interpretation, askr Yggdrasils would mean the world tree upon which 'the horse of the highest god is bound'.

Nevertheless, scholarly opinions regarding the precise meaning of the name Yggdrasill vary, particularly on the issue of whether Yggdrasill is the name of the tree itself or if only the full term askr Yggdrasil (where Old Norse askr means 'ash tree') refers specifically to the tree.

Gallows can be called 'the horse of the hanged' and therefore Odin's gallows may have developed into the expression 'Odin's horse', which then became the name of the tree. The Poetic Edda poem Hávamál describes how Odin sacrificed himself by hanging from a tree, making this tree Odin's gallows. This interpretation comes about because drasill means 'horse' and Ygg(r) is one of Odin's many names. The generally accepted meaning of Old Norse Yggdrasill is 'Odin's horse', meaning ' gallows'. The tree is an example of sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, and scholars in the field of Germanic philology have long discussed its implications. Scholars generally consider Hoddmímis holt, Mímameiðr, and Læraðr to be other names for the tree. Creatures live within Yggdrasil, including the dragon Níðhöggr, an unnamed eagle, and the stags Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór. The branches of Yggdrasil extend far into the heavens, and the tree is supported by three roots that extend far away into other locations one to the well Urðarbrunnr in the heavens, one to the spring Hvergelmir, and another to the well Mímisbrunnr. The gods go to Yggdrasil daily to assemble at their traditional governing assemblies, called things.

In both sources, Yggdrasil is an immense ash tree that is center to the cosmos and considered very holy.

Yggdrasil is attested in the Poetic Edda compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and in the Prose Edda written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds. Yggdrasil (from Old Norse Yggdrasill ), in Norse cosmology, is an immense and central sacred tree. 'The Ash Yggdrasil' (1886) by Friedrich Wilhelm Heine

Dragon age origins sacred ashes