Lævateinn

In Norse mythology, Lævateinn is a weapon mentioned in the Poetic Edda poem Fjölsvinnsmál. The name Lævateinn does not appear in the original manuscript reading, but is an emendation from Hævateinn made by Sophus Bugge and others. The amended name Lævateinn is etymologically considered to be a kenning for a sword (Old Norse "damage twig"[1]).
In some legends, the blade was forged by Loki and too hot for a mortal to touch. It is sometimes considered to be the blade that Surtr wields during Ragnarok.

"Laevatein" redirects here. For the videogame, see Hero's Saga Laevatein Tactics.

Fjölsvinnsmál

The weapon is mentioned briefly in the poem Fjölsvinnsmál:

Benjamin Thorpe's translation:
26. Tell me, Fiölsvith! etc.
whether there be any weapon,
before which Vidofnir may
fall to Hel´s abode?
27. Hævatein the twig is named,
and Lopt plucked it,
down by the gate of Death.
In an iron chest it lies
with Sinmoera,
and is with nine strong locks secured.[2]
Henry Adams Bellows translation:
41. Svipdag spake:
"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, the question I ask,
For now the truth would I know:
What weapon can send Vithofnir to seek
The house of Hel below?"
42. Fjolsvith spake:
"Lævatein is there, that Lopt with runes
Once made by the doors of death;
In Lægjarn's chest by Sinmora lies it,
And nine locks fasten it firm."[3]

Bellows comments that Lægjarn means "Lover of Ill" and, like the name Lopt, refers to Loki.[3]

Theories

Late 19th and early 20th century scholar Henry Adams Bellows translates Lævateinn as 'wounding wand' and says that "the suggestion that the reference is to the mistletoe with which Baldr was killed seems hardly reasonable."[3]

Leszek Gardeła theorized that the weapon was a magic staff, tein, meaning 'twig', being part of the general word for magic staff gambantein.[4]

Notes
  1. Simek (2007:185).
  2. Thorpe (1907:96–97).
  3. Bellows (2004:245).
  4. Gardeła (2009).
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References
  • Bellows, Henry Adams (Trans.) (2004). The Poetic Edda: The Mythological Poems. Courier Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-43710-8
  • Gardeła, Leszek (2009). "A Biography of the Seiðr-Staffs. Towards an Archaeology of Emotions". In L.P. Słupecki, J. Morawiec (eds.), Between Paganism and Christianity in the North. Rzeszów: Rzeszów University, 190-219.
  • Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer. ISBN 0-85991-513-1
  • Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans.) (1907). The Elder Edda of Saemund Sigfusson. Norrœna Society.
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