Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

, Lævateinn is a weapon crafted by

Loki Loki is a god in Norse mythology. According to some sources, Loki is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mentioned as a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi or Na ...

mentioned in the ''

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic me ...

'' poem ''

Fjölsvinnsmál ''Fjölsvinnsmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Lay of Fjölsvinn') is the second of two Old Norse poems commonly published under the title '' Svipdagsmál'' "The Lay of Svipdagr". These poems are found together in several 17th-century paper manuscripts with ' ...

''. The name ''Lævateinn'' does not appear in the original manuscript reading, but is an emendation from Hævateinn made by

Sophus Bugge Elseus Sophus Bugge (5 January 1833 – 8 July 1907) was a Norwegian philologist and linguist. His scholarly work was directed to the study of runic inscriptions and Norse philology. Bugge is best known for his theories and his work on the runic ...

and others. The weapon is needed to slay the rooster Viðofnir atop the

Mímameiðr In Norse mythology, Mímameiðr (Old Norse " Mimi's tree"Simek (2007:216)) is a tree whose branches stretch over every land, is unharmed by fire or metal, bears fruit that assists pregnant women, and upon whose highest bough roosts the cock Víð ...

tree in order for the seeker to achieve his quest, or so replies the wise porter Fjölsviðr, the titular character of the poem. Lævateinn has variously been asserted to be a dart (or some projectile weapon), or a sword, or a wand, by different commentators and translators. It is glossed as literally meaning a "wand" causing damage by several sources, yet some of these same sources claim simultaneously that the name is a

kenning A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English po ...

for sword. Others prefer to regard it as a magic

wand A wand is a thin, light-weight rod that is held with one hand, and is traditionally made of wood, but may also be made of other materials, such as metal or plastic. Long versions of wands are often styled in forms of staves or sceptres, which c ...

(

seiðr In Old Norse, (sometimes anglicized as ''seidhr'', ''seidh'', ''seidr'', ''seithr'', ''seith'', or ''seid'') was a type of magic which was practised in Norse society during the Late Scandinavian Iron Age. The practice of is believed to be a ...

staff).

Attestation

Lævateinn is the only weapon capable of defeating the cockerel Viðofnir, as explained by Fiölsvith "the very wise" porter in the poem ''Fjölsvinnsmál''. Lopt, the sword's maker, refers to Loki.

Name and meanings

Hævateinn, the untampered form of the weapon's name as occurs in manuscript, has been glossed as "sure-striking dart/arrow" by

Árni Magnússon Árni Magnússon (13 November 1663 – 7 January 1730) was a scholar and collector of manuscripts from Iceland who assembled the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection. Life Árni was born in 1663 at Kvennabrekka in Dalasýsla, in western Iceland, ...

in 1787,. and rendered "an arrow's name /That never disappoints the aim" by A. S. Cottle in 1797.. "The Fable of Fiolsuid". Lævateinn, the emendation made by changing the first letter from H to L, was proposed by Sophus Bugge in 1860/1861, later printed in Bugge's edition of the

(1867 ), and construed to mean 'Wounding Wand', or 'damage twig', or "Wand-of-Destruction". To be fair, Lævateinn or ''læ''-wand can have three possible senses of meaning, and the latter three English glosses exploit only one of them. The three meanings of ''læ'' (the

nominative case In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...

of ''læva'') are: "cunning", "deception", and "injury".Cf.
læ
s.v. Cleasby=Vigfusson's ''Dictionary'' (1874). The weapon's name is glossed as "wand of non deceit" in passing without further explanation by

Einar Ólafur Sveinsson Einar Ólafur Sveinsson, often abbreviated Einar Ól. Sveinsson (12 December 1899 – 18 April 1984) was an Icelandic scholar of Old Norse literature who was Professor of Icelandic Literature at the University of Iceland. His writings on and ed ...

''Fjölsvinnsmál''

The weapon is mentioned briefly thus in the poem ''Fjölsvinnsmál'': Bugge proposed that this poem ''Fjölsvinnsmál'' should be treated as Part II of ''

Svipdagsmál ''Svipdagsmál'' (Old Norse: , 'The Lay of Svipdagr') is an Old Norse poem, sometimes included in modern editions of the ''Poetic Edda'', comprising two poems, '' The Spell of Gróa'' and '' The Lay of Fjölsviðr''. The two works are grouped sin ...

'' (sequel to Part I ''

Grógaldr ''Grógaldr'' or ''The Spell of Gróa'' is the first of two poems, now commonly published under the title '' Svipdagsmál'' found in several 17th-century paper manuscripts with ''Fjölsvinnsmál''. In at least three of these manuscripts, the poems ...

''), and the sword's name was emended to Lævateinn by him. The poem underwent further modifications. The phrase "" ('placed in an iron vase') was modified by

Hjalmar Falk Peterolsen Groth Hjalmar Seierstedt Falk (April 2, 1859 – November 2, 1928) was a Norwegian linguist and philologist. Early life and education Falk was born in Vang. He started his university studies in 1876 and graduated with an education ...

to "", where Lægjarn denoted 'Lover of Ill', a nickname of Loki.. Notes to "Svipdagsmol (II Fjolsvinnsmol)" str. 42.

Theories

The ''Laeva-'' stem of the weapon's name is considered the

genitive form In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...

of ''Lae-'', as occurs in Loki's nickname Lægjarn, where ''lae'' means 'deceit, fraud; bane', and so forth.

Type of weapon

The identification of the type of weapon is not in agreement among commentators and translators. The Hævateinn was interpreted to be a dart/arrow () by Árni Magnússon and A. S. Cottle in the 18th century as already noted. Whereas

Finnur Jónsson Finnur Jónsson (May 29, 1858 – March 30, 1934) was an Icelandic-Danish philologist and Professor of Nordic Philology at the University of Copenhagen. He made extensive contributions to the study of Old Norse literature. Finnur Jónsson was b ...

glossed it as a sword, along with other editors at the beginning of early 20th century, and it was specifically claimed to be the same as the

flaming sword Flaming sword may refer to: * Flaming sword (mythology), in myth and legend, a sword glowing with flame by some supernatural power * Flaming sword (effect), a sword coated with combustible fuel and set ablaze for various types of performances * '' ...

of the giant

Surtr In Norse mythology, Surtr (Old Norse "black"Orchard (1997:154). "the swarthy one",Simek (2007:303–304) Surtur in modern Icelandic), also sometimes written Surt in English, is a jötunn. Surtr is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the ...

Henrik Schück Henrik Schück (2 November 1855 – 3 October 1947) was a Swedish literary historian, university professor and author. Biography Johan Henrik Emil Schück was a professor at the Lund University 1890–1898. He was a professor at Uppsala Univer ...

. Or, the Hævateinn or Lævateinn was probably a magic wand crafted by Loki according to others, e.g., Albert Morey Sturtevant, and a paper on ''

'' magic staffs citing

Rudolf Simek Rudolf Simek (born 21 February 1954) is an Austrian philologist and religious studies scholar who is Professor and Chair of Ancient German studies, German and Scandinavian studies, Nordic Studies at the University of Bonn. Simek specializes in G ...

. Henry Adams Bellows glossed ''Lævateinn'' as meaning 'wounding wand', but rejected identification with the ' or "mistletoe with which

Baldr Baldr (also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, Baldr (Old Norse: ) is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was kno ...

was killed". To complicate matters, the argument is also made by e.g.

Lee M. Hollander Lee Milton Hollander (November 8, 1880 – October 19, 1972) was an American philologist who specialized in Old Norse studies. Hollander was for many years head of the Department of Germanic Languages at the University of Texas at Austin. ...

that although Lævateinn is literally renderable as a "Wand-of-Destruction", it is etymologically considered to be a kenning for a sword. In Adolfo Zavaroni and Reggio Emilia's conception of the poem, Lævateinn is a

cudgel A club (also known as a cudgel, baton, bludgeon, truncheon, cosh, nightstick, or impact weapon) is a short staff or stick, usually made of wood, wielded as a weapon since prehistoric times. There are several examples of blunt-force trauma caused ...

("Evilcudgel"), while it is Viðofnir who owns a collection of rods (divining rods) whereamong he maintains his sickle. In fact, the word '' völr'' in the text literally means "rounded rods", although translators have figuratively interpreted the word to be the rooster's plumage.e.g. . "Svipdagsmol (II Fjolsvinnsmol)" str. 46
p. 246
"sickle.. mid Vithofnir's feathers found".

Explanatory notes

References

;Citations ;Bibliography ;(texts and translations) * * * * * * * * ;(secondary sources) * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Laevateinn European swords European weapons Medieval European swords Mythological Norse weapons Mythological swords Loki Viking swords Wands