Litr (alsoLit;Old Norse:[ˈlitz̠], 'colour, appearance') is the name borne by adwarf and ajötunn inNorse mythology.
TheOld Norse nameLitr has been translated as 'colour', 'hue', or 'appearance'.[1][2][3] It stems from aProto-Germanic form reconstructed as*ulituz (compare withGothicwlits 'shape, appearance', orOld Englishwlite 'clearness, sparkle').[1]
InSnorri Sturluson'sGylfaginning(49), Litr is kicked intoBaldr's funeral pyre byThor:
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.
In a stanza byBragi Boddason[4] quoted in Snorri'sSkáldskaparmál(42) Litr is also mentioned in akenning for 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 ajötunn in one version of the poem about Thor byÞorbjörn dísarskáld, where the skald listsjötnar andgýgjar killed 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]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)