Logi (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: , '

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

, flame') or Hálogi (, 'High Flame') is a

jötunn A (also jotun; plural ; in the normalised scholarly spelling of Old Norse, ; or, in Old English, , plural ) is a type of being in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, are often contrasted with gods (the Æsir and Vanir) and with other no ...

and the personification of fire in

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

. He is a son of the jötunn

Fornjót Fornjót (Old Norse language, Old Norse: ''Fornjótr'') is a jötunn in Norse mythology, and the father of Ægir, Hlér ('sea'), Logi (mythology), Logi ('fire') and Kári ('wind'). It is also the name of a legendary king of "Finland and Kvenland ...

r and the brother of

Ægir Ægir (anglicised as Aegir; Old Norse 'sea'), Hlér (Old Norse 'sea'), or Gymir (Old Norse less clearly 'sea, engulfer'), is a jötunn and a anthropomorphism, personification of the sea in Norse mythology. In the Old Norse record, Ægir hosts the ...

or Hlér ('sea') and Kári ('wind'). Logi married fire giantess Glöð and she gave birth to their two beautiful daughters—Eisa and Eimyrja.

Name

The

name ''Logi'' is generally translated as 'fire', 'flame', or blaze'. It was also used in poetry as a synonym of 'sword, blade'. Since Logi is pitted against the god

Loki Loki is a Æsir, god in Norse mythology. He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mythology), Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi (son of Lo ...

in a story in the ''

Gylfaginning ''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first main part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'', after the initial Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' takes the form of ...

'' section of the ''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...

'', it has been suggested that Loki was also associated with fire, but it is more likely to be wordplay. Loki has no provable connection to the German word ''Lohe'' ('blaze'), despite

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's use of the name ''Loge'' for the demigod in his '' Ring des Nibelungen''.

Attestations

''Gylfaginning''

In ''

'' ('The Beguiling of Gylfi'), Logi appears in the tale of

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

and

's journey to the castle of the giant Útgarða-Loki in

Jötunheimr The terms Jötunheimr (in Old Norse orthography: Jǫtunheimr ; often Old Norse orthography#Anglicized spelling, anglicised as Jotunheim) or Jötunheimar refer to either a land or multiple lands respectively in Nordic mythology inhabited by the j ...

, where Loki was pitted against Logi in an eating contest. The contestants appeared to be equal in speed at eating meat from the bone, but Logi also consumed the bones and even the wooden trencher in which the meat was placed showing off his might. Útgarða-Loki afterwards explained that Logi was really wildfire itself.

''Hversu Noregr byggðist''

In '' Hversu Noregr byggðist'' in ''

Flateyjarbók ''Flateyjarbók'' (; "Book of Flatey, Breiðafjörður, Flatey") is an important medieval Iceland, Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name ''Codex Flateyensis''. It was commissioned by Jón Hákonarson and p ...

'', there is a mention of Logi's family:

There was a man called
Fornjót Fornjót (Old Norse language, Old Norse: ''Fornjótr'') is a jötunn in Norse mythology, and the father of Ægir, Hlér ('sea'), Logi (mythology), Logi ('fire') and Kári ('wind'). It is also the name of a legendary king of "Finland and Kvenland ...
. He had three sons; one was Hlér, another Logi, the third Kári; he ruled over winds, but Logi over fire, Hlér over the seas.

The sons of Fornjótr are given powers to rule over forces of nature. Logi rules over fire.

''Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar''

In '' Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar'', Logi, also called Hálogi, is identified as a risi (another kind of giant) who becomes the first king of Hálogaland (northern Norway), and the ancestor of its royal line, all of whom are known for their muscular physique and stunning beauty. Kings are marked with a crown (♕).

Legacy

A moon of planet

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

is named Loge after Logi.Discovery date: March 6, 2006.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Norse paganism topics Fire gods Jötnar Personifications in Norse mythology Loki