Litr


Litr is the name borne by a dwarf and a jötunn in Norse mythology.

Name

The Old Norse name Litr has been translated as 'colour', 'hue', or 'appearance'. It stems from a Proto-Germanic form reconstructed as *ulituz.

Dwarf

In Snorri Sturluson's Gylfaginning, Litr is kicked into Baldr's funeral pyre by Thor:
Litr is also listed as a dwarf in Völuspá.
A dwarf named Litr also appears in Áns saga bogsveigis, where he is coerced by the protagonist Án to build him a bow.

Jötunn

But in a stanza by Bragi Boddason quoted in Snorri's Skáldskaparmál Litr is also mentioned in a kenning for Thor: "Lit's men's fight-challenger". Given that Thor is the enemy of giants, it is generally assumed that, in this kenning, Litr must refer to a giant. Litr is also a giant in one version of the poem about Thor by Þorbjörn dísarskáld, where the skald lists giants and giantesses killed by the god.
This led John Lindow to suggest that there may have been originally only one Litr, a giant, for "it would not have been inappropriate for Thor to have killed a giant in some earlier version of the funeral of Baldr".