Northern mythology

NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY. 181
in the bowels of the earth, with giantesses and jarnvidiur,
i. e. the metals and combustible parts of the earth. There
he begat with xlngurboda ^
(the announcer of sorrow), the
wolf Fenrir, Midgard's serpent and Hel. The ravenous
wolf, (subterranean fire) would have destroyed the world,
if the powerful gods had not chained it in the mountaincavern
; but even there the foam issues from its open jaws
as a dense vapour, and sparkling smoke. The foul, pernicious
Loki was by the gods thrust down into the earth and
confined in its caverns ; there he yet works, though men
notice it only when he moves, for then the earth trembles.
The bonds yet hold him, but when they are loosed the
gods will lose their sway over the world. Then will Loki
come forth with his son Fenrir, whose under jaw is on earth,
while his upper jaw reaches heaven^, and fills all the air
with flame. The fire confined in the earth will also cause
commotion in the sea ; then will the great serpent move
itself in the deep, threaten the land and raise itself to
heaven. The raging fire will cause death and desolation
around it, etc. etc.
Illustration.—The root of the word Loki is found in
many languages, as Sansk. 16c (lotsj), to shine ; Lat. luceo,
lux (lues) ; Kymr. llug, fire \ 0. Nor. logi, flame, etc. He
is a mixed being, good and evil, but as terrestrial fire, particularly
the latter. He is the cause of almost all evil,
wherefore some connect his name with the Greek Xo'yaw,
0. Nor. lokka, to entice^. His other name, Loptr, from lopt,
Gz>, Ger. Luft, signifies the aerial. In the Vuluspa'^ the
1
Page 31. 2 Pages 79,81.
3 Asaloki forms a contrast to all the other gods. He is the evil principle
in all its varieties. As sensuality he runs through the veins of men ; in
nature he is the pernicious in the air, the fire, the water ; in the lap of earth
as the volcanic fire, in the ocean's depth as a fierce serpent, in the nether
world as the pallid death. Hence he is not bound to any individual nature
; like Odin he pervades all nature. Petersen, N. M. p. 355.
4 Str. 55.