Byleist
Encyclopedia
Býleistr is a giant, the brother of Loki
in Norse mythology
. His parents are Laufey
and Fárbauti
.
Nothing is known about him, apart from this kinship. Snorri Sturluson
states in his Gylfaginning
(34) that "[Loki]'s brothers are Býleistr and Helblindi
", and several Eddic
texts use the Loki-kenning
"brother of Býleistr" (bróðir Býleists) (Völuspá
, 51; Hyndluljóð
, 40; Skáldskaparmál
, 16).
Loki
In Norse mythology, Loki or Loke is a god or jötunn . Loki is the son of Fárbauti and Laufey, and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. By the jötunn Angrboða, Loki is the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jörmungandr. By his wife Sigyn, Loki is the father of Nari or Narfi...
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...
. His parents are Laufey
Laufey
Laufey or Nál is a figure from Norse mythology, the mother of Loki. Eddic poetry refers to Loki by the matronym Loki Laufeyjarson rather than with a patronymic....
and Fárbauti
Fárbauti
In Norse mythology, Fárbauti is the jötunn husband of Laufey or Nál and the father of Loki, and possibly also of Helblindi and Byleistr. He is attested in the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in the poetry of Viking Age skalds...
.
Nothing is known about him, apart from this kinship. Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...
states in his 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...
(34) that "[Loki]'s brothers are Býleistr and Helblindi
Helblindi
In Norse mythology, Helblindi is a jötunn, brother of Loki and Býleistr and son of Fárbauti and his wife Laufey. Helblindi is also a heiti used to describe Odin....
", and several Eddic
Edda
The term Edda applies to the Old Norse Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, both of which were written down in Iceland during the 13th century in Icelandic, although they contain material from earlier traditional sources, reaching into the Viking Age...
texts use the Loki-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...
"brother of Býleistr" (bróðir Býleists) (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...
, 51; Hyndluljóð
Hyndluljóð
Hyndluljóð or Lay of Hyndla is an Old Norse poem often considered a part of the Poetic Edda. It is preserved in its entirety only in Flateyjarbók but some stanzas are also quoted in the Prose Edda where they are said to come from Völuspá hin skamma.In the poem, the goddess Freyja meets the völva...
, 40; 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...
, 16).