The enthroned figure of High quotes this stanza in the "Prose Edda" book "Gylfaginning" and specifically states that Sæhrímnir is a boar. However, some scholars have translated the "Poetic Edda" attestation, which the "Prose Edda" attestation quotes, as not referring to the creature as any specific type. Those scholars who recognize a difference in the taxonomy of the creature between the two sources have commented on the matter, further issues have been raised about the apparently contradictory etymology of the name of the creature in relation to its apparent status as a boar, and some scholars have theorized that the ritual killing of the animal may ultimately stem from religious practices in Germanic paganism.