Sleipnir: Odin’s Horse’s Name Meaning

Horse is often seen as a favorite ride for the leaders. The same thing happened in Norse mythology when Odin the Supreme God chose for himself a dark eight-legged horse as his constant companion. His name was Sleipnir and this blog post is to explain the meaning and the background of Sleipnir.

To become the favorite steed for Odin the Allfather, Sleipnir must have been a horse with incredible running skill. To put it simply, Sleipnir outran any horse in the cosmos.

And his name carried this meaning. “Sleipnir” means “Slippy” or “the Slipper” in Old Norse. And Norse mythology had it that no horse in the cosmos could run faster than Sleipnir. Some texts described that Sleipnir carried Odin across the ocean, through the win, up to the sky, and of course he could gallop in the land.

Another thing to remember about Sleipnir is that he could carry anyone into Hel the underworld of Norse cosmos. In the story of the Death of Baldur, Sleipnir carried Hermod, one of Odin’s alleged obscure son, to go to Hel and meet Hel the Queen of the underworld negotiating to release Baldur.

Family background of Sleipnir was quite complicated. But I do believe that because of his family blood, he could become that powerful.

Sleipnir was the son of Loki and a stallion who was lured by Loki. On that night, Loki disguised himself as a mare – female horse to seduce the giant stallion. The stallion who was ordered to build the wall of Asgard was captivated by the first time he saw Loki as a mare. Love defeated his duty. That night, the stallion  chased after the mare and they finally united deep in an unknown woods. And here came Sleipnir who later became wellknown as the fastest horse in the Norse cosmos.

And as the story, Loki was the mother of Sleipnir. This might sound a little bit ridiculous as how could Loki mothered a horse. But he did, at least in Norse mythology.