In Norse mythology

Norse mythology

Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

 Litr (often anglicized as Lit, confer Icelandic

Icelandic language

Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...

 litur), which means "colour", is a name borne by a dwarf and a giant.

A dwarf

In Snorri Sturluson

Snorri Sturluson

Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...

's Gylfaginning

Gylfaginning

Gylfaginning, or the Tricking of Gylfi , is the first part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda after Prologue. The Gylfaginning deals with the creation and destruction of the world of the Norse gods, and many other aspects of Norse mythology...

(49), Litr is kicked into Baldr's funeral pyre by Thor

Thor

In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...

:

Then Thor stood by and hallowed the pyre with Mjöllnir; and before his feet ran a certain dwarf which was named Litr; Thor kicked at him with his foot and thrust him into the fire, and he burned.

—Gylfaginning, Brodeur's translation

Litr is also listed as a dwarf in Völuspá

Völuspá

Völuspá is the first and best known poem of the Poetic Edda. It tells the story of the creation of the world and its coming end related by a völva addressing Odin...

(12).

A giant

But in a stanza by Bragi Boddason

Bragi Boddason

In his Edda Snorri Sturluson quotes many stanzas attributed to Bragi Boddason the old , a court poet who served several Swedish kings, Ragnar Lodbrok, Östen Beli and Björn at Hauge who reigned in the first half of the ninth century...

 quoted in Snorri's Skáldskaparmál

Skáldskaparmál

The second part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda the Skáldskaparmál or "language of poetry" is effectively a dialogue between the Norse god of the sea, Ægir and Bragi, the god of poetry, in which both Norse mythology and discourse on the nature of poetry are intertwined...

(42) Litr is also mentioned in a kenning

Kenning

A kenning is a type of literary trope, specifically circumlocution, in the form of a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse and later Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon poetry...

 for Thor: "Lit's men's fight-challenger" ("Litar flotna fangboði"). Given that Thor is the enemy of giants, it is generally assumed that, in this kenning, Litr must refer to a giant. Litr is also a giant in one version of the poem about Thor by Þorbjörn dísarskáld

Þorbjörn dísarskáld

Þorbjörn dísarskáld is a 10th or 11th century Icelandic skald. His nickname means "poet of the lady" or "poet of the dís". It could be an allusion to a now lost poem about Freyja or one of the dísir.But only one or two fragments of his poetry have been preserved, in...

, where the skald lists giants and giantesses killed by the god (but Litr only appears in one manuscript, the others mentioning Lútr instead).

This led John Lindow to suggest that there may have been originally only one Litr, a giant, for "it would not have been inappropriate for Thor to have killed a giant in some earlier version of the funeral of Baldr".