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Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr


Tanngrisnir (Old Norse "teeth-barer, snarler") and Tanngnjóstr (Old Norse "teeth grinder") are the goats who pull the god Thor's chariot in Norse mythology. They are attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century.

The Prose Edda relates that when Thor cooks the goats, their flesh provides sustenance for the god, and, after Thor resurrects them with his hammer, Mjölnir, they are brought back to life the next day. According to the same source, Thor once stayed a night at the home of peasant farmers and shared with them his goat meal, yet one of their children, Þjálfi, broke one of the bones to suck out the marrow, resulting in the lameness of one of the goats upon resurrection. As a result, Thor maintains Þjálfi and his sister Röskva as his servants. Scholars have linked the ever-replenishing goats to the nightly-consumed beast Sæhrímnir in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folk beliefs involving herring bones and witchcraft.

The Old Norse name Tanngrisnir translates to "teeth-barer, snarler" and Tanngnjóstr to "teeth-grinder". Scholar Rudolf Simek comments that the names were young when recorded, and may have been inventions of Snorri.Tanngnjóstr is sometimes modernly anglicized as Tanngiost.

Thor's goats are mentioned in two poems in the Poetic Edda, though they are not referred to by name. In the Poetic Edda poem Hymiskviða, Thor secures the goats, described as having "splendid horns", with a human named Egil in the realm of Midgard before Thor and the god Tyr continue to the jötunn Hymir's hall. Later in the same poem Thor is referred to as "lord of goats".


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