Encyclopedia > Sleipner

  Article Content

Sleipnir

Redirected from Sleipner

In Norse mythology, Sleipnir is Odin's magical eight-legged steed, and the first of all horses. His name means smooth or gliding, hence the English word, slippery. Loki, in the guise of a mare, gave birth to Sleipnir by Svadilfari.

It has been suggested that Sleipnir having eight legs is symbolic of the four men who carry a coffin, i.e. a steed to carry the rider into the underworld. It might also be a reference to a real horse with three toes, rather than just the normal one, on two feet, either front or back. As this sometimes happens, without detriment to the horse, it might have worked its way into myth.

A stainless steel statue of Sleipnir is a prominent feature in the Midlands town of Wednesbury[?] (which means Odin's fort).

Alternative: Sleipner



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
1904

... February 25 - Adelle Davis[?], nutritionist, writer (+ 1974) February 29 - Jimmy Dorsey, bandleader (+ 1957) March 1 - Glenn Miller, bandleader (+ 1944) March 2 - ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 39.1 ms