Leikn (Old Norse: ) is a female jötunn in Norse mythology. The 10th-century skald Vetrliði Sumarliðason lists her among the jötnar killed by the thunder god Thor.
Name
The
Old Norse name
Leikn has been translated as 'trickery'. Stemming from a
Proto-Norse form reconstructed as
*laikīnō, it is related to the Old Norse
leikni ('bewitchment'), and to the
Old English scīn-lǣce ('sorceress').
Attestations
The death of Leikn is mentioned in a
lausavísa composed by Vetrliði Sumarliðason which praises Thor for having killed giants and giantesses:
- Leggi brauzt Leiknar,
- lamðir Þrívalda,
- steypðir Starkeði,
- stétt of Gjǫlp dauða.
- :— Edith Marold's edition
|
- You broke Leikn's bones,
- you pounded Thrivaldi
- you cast down Starkad,
- you stood over the dead Gialp.
- :— Skáldskaparmál (4), Faulkes' translation
|
Leikn's name was used by
in
. Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld thus uses the
kenning "Leikn's horse" (
hestr Leiknar) for a wolf (
Óláfsdrápa,
6) and Hallvarðr háreksblesi calls the raven "hawk of Leikn of points" (
haukr Leiknar odda) that is "hawk of
valkyrie" (
Knútsdrápa,
6).
Leikn is also listed in the þulur.
Bibliography
