Named possibly after Hel {see also planet  (949)}, the Norse goddess of the dead. Yggdrasil was a tree, one of whose roots grew in Asgard, the second in Nifflheim and the third in the realm of Hela or Death. The lower world was ruled by the goddess Hel and to it were consigned those who had not died in battle. (H 71; R. Bremer) _ _.