Litr
Litr(alsoLit;Old Norse:[ˈlitz̠],'colour, appearance') is the name borne by adwarfand ajötunninNorse mythology.
Name[edit]
TheOld NorsenameLitrhas been translated as 'colour', 'hue', or 'appearance'.[1][2][3]It stems from aProto-Germanicform reconstructed as*ulituz(compare withGothicwlits'shape, appearance', orOld Englishwlite'clearness, sparkle').[1]
Dwarf[edit]
InSnorri Sturluson'sGylfaginning(49),Litr is kicked intoBaldr's funeral pyre byThor:
- Then Thor stood by and hallowed the pyre with Mjöllnir; and before his feet ran a certain dwarf which was named Litr; Thor kicked at him with his foot and thrust him into the fire, and he burned.
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- —Gylfaginning,Brodeur's translation
Litr is also listed as a dwarf inVöluspá(12).
A dwarf named Litr also appears inÁns saga bogsveigis,where he is coerced by the protagonist Án to build him a bow.
Jötunn[edit]
In a stanza byBragi Boddason[4]quoted in Snorri'sSkáldskaparmál(42)Litr is also mentioned in akenningfor Thor: "Lit's men's fight-challenger"[5]("Litar flotna fangboði"). Given that Thor is the enemy ofjötnar,it is generally assumed that, in this kenning, Litr must refer to a giant.[6]Litr is also ajötunnin one version of the poem about Thor byÞorbjörn dísarskáld,where the skald listsjötnarandgýgjarkilled by the god (but Litr only appears in one manuscript, the others mentioning Lútr instead).[7]
This led John Lindow to suggest that there may have been originally only one Litr, ajötunn,for "it would not have been inappropriate for Thor to have killed a giant in some earlier version of the funeral of Baldr".[7]
References[edit]
- ^abde Vries 1962,p. 359.
- ^Lindow 2001,p. 209.
- ^Orchard 1997,p. 190.
- ^This stanza belongs either toRagnarsdrápa(according toFinnur Jónsson's edition) or to an independent poem about Thor's fishing (according toMargaret Clunies Ross' editionArchived2007-08-31 at theWayback Machine).
- ^Faulkes 1995.
- ^Faulkes 1995, Lindow 2002.
- ^abLindow 2002.
Bibliography[edit]
- de Vries, Jan(1962).Altnordisches Etymologisches Worterbuch(1977 ed.). Brill.ISBN978-90-04-05436-3.
- Faulkes, Anthony, trans. (1987).Edda(1995 ed.). Everyman.ISBN0-460-87616-3.
- Lindow, John(2001).Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs.Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-983969-8.
- Orchard, Andy(1997).Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend.Cassell.ISBN978-0-304-34520-5.