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 as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

, Meili (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: ) is a

god In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

, a brother of the god

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

. Meili is attested in the ''

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems in alliterative verse. It is distinct from the closely related ''Prose Edda'', although both works are seminal to the study of Old Norse ...

'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...

'', written in the 13th century by

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

. In the '' nafnaþulur'', a section at the end of the ''Prose Edda'' that may be later, he is named as a son of the god

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

. No additional information is provided about Meili in either source.

Attestations

In the ''Poetic Edda'' poem ''

Hárbarðsljóð ''Hárbarðsljóð'' (Old Norse: 'The Lay of Hárbarðr') is one of the poems of the ''Poetic Edda'', found in the Codex Regius and AM 748 I 4to manuscripts. It is a flyting poem with figures from Norse Paganism. ''Hárbarðsljóð'' was first wri ...

'', Thor declares that, even if he were an

outlaw An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them. ...

, he would reveal his name and his homeland, for he is the son of Odin, the brother of Meili, and the father of Magni.Larrington (1999:70). Meili receives four mentions in the ''Prose Edda'' book ''

Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'Poetic Diction' or 'The Language of Poetry'; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda'', compiled by Snorri Sturluson. It consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bra ...

''. In chapter 17, verses from the poem ''

Haustlöng ''Haustlǫng'' (Old Norse: 'Autumn-long'; anglicized as ''Haustlöng'') is a skaldic poem composed around the beginning of the 10th century by the Norwegian skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir. The poem has been preserved in the 13th-century '' Prose ...

'' (attributed to the 10th-century

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...

Þjóðólfr of Hvinir Þjóðólfr ór Hvini (; anglicized as Thjódólf of Hvinir or Thiodolf; fl. late 9th–early 10th c. AD), was a Norwegian skald, said to have been one of the court-poets of the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair. His name suggests that he was fro ...

) are provided, where Thor is referred to as "Meili's brother".Faulkes (1995:80). The lines mentioning Meili are also quoted in chapter 23.Faulkes (1999:89). In chapter 22, additional quotes from ''Haustlöng'' are provided where a

kenning A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech, a figuratively-phrased compound term that is used in place of a simple single-word noun. For instance, the Old English kenning () means , as does (). A kenning has two parts: a base-word (a ...

is employed for the god

Hœnir In Norse mythology, Hœnir (also Hǿnir; modern Icelandic , modern Swedish ) is one of the Æsir. He is mentioned in Vǫluspá as one of the three gods (along with Odin and Lóðurr) that created the first humans. Attestations In ''Völuspá'', ...

that refers to Meili ('step-Meili').Faulkes (1995:87). In the '' nafnaþulur'' at the end of the ''Prose Edda'', Meili is listed among names of the

Æsir Æsir (Old Norse; singular: ) or ēse (Old English; singular: ) are deities, gods in Germanic paganism. In Old Nordic religion and Nordic mythology, mythology, the precise meaning of the term "" is debated, as it can refer either to the gods i ...

and as a son of Odin (between the god

Baldr Baldr (Old Norse also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, he 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 known in ...

and the god

Víðarr In Norse mythology, Víðarr (Old Norse: , possibly "wide ruler",Orchard (1997:174—175). sometimes Anglicisation, anglicized as Vidar , Vithar, Vidarr, and Vitharr) is a Æsir, god among the Æsir associated with vengeance. Víðarr is describe ...

).Faulkes (1995:156).

Reception

The name Meili is of unknown etymology and meaning.

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

suggested ''der Liebe'', 'the dear one'.Simek (2006:272).Mistranslated "the lovely one" in Angela Hall's 2007 translation, ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology'', D.S. Brewer, , p. 210. Scholars have generally accepted that Meili, like Thor, is a son of Odin. Some 19th-century scholars proposed that he should also be understood as having the same mother as Thor,

Jörð Jörð (), also named Fjorgyn or Hlodyn, is the personification of earth and a goddess in Norse mythology. She is the mother of the thunder god Thor and a sexual partner of Odin. Jörð is attested in Danish history , composed in the 12th century ...

, a goddess and the personified Earth.Examples include Pierer (1844:204), Barth (1846:396), and Uhland (1868:18). Also during the 19th century,

Viktor Rydberg Abraham Viktor Rydberg (; 18 December 182821 September 1895) was a Swedish writer and a member of the Swedish Academy, 1877–1895. "Primarily a classical idealist", Viktor Rydberg has been described as "Sweden's last Romantic" and by 1859 wa ...

theorized that

and Meili are one and the same.Rydberg (2003:191).

Notes

References

* Barth, Christian K. (1846). ''Teutschlands Urgeschichte''. Vol. 5. Rev. ed. Erlangen: J. J. Palm & Ernst Enke. * Faulkes, Anthony (Trans.) (1995). ''Edda''.

Everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin and history The term ''everyman'' was used ...

. * Larrington, Carolyne (Trans.) (1999). ''The Poetic Edda''.

Oxford World's Classics Oxford World's Classics is an imprint of Oxford University Press. First established in 1901 by Grant Richards and purchased by OUP in 1906, this imprint publishes primarily dramatic and classic literature for students and the general public. ...

. * Pierer, Heinrich A. (1844). ''Universallexikon der Gegenwart und Vergangenheit, Vol. 21''. Altenburg: H. A. Pierer. * Simek, Rudolf (2006). ''Lexikon der germanischen Mythologie''. Kröners Taschenausgabe, 368. 3rd ed. Stuttgart: Kröner, * Rydberg, Viktor (2003). ''Our Father's Godsaga: Retold for the Young''. Lincoln: iUniverse. * Uhland, Ludwig (1868). ''Schriften zur Geschichte der Dichtung und Sage, Vol. 6''. Stuttgart: Verlag der J. G. Cotta'schen Buchhandlung. {{Norse mythology Æsir Sons of Odin Norse gods Baldr