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Meili is one of the Æsir in Norse mythology. His name appears in the Eddic poem Hárbarðsljóð where Þórr lists him alone as his brother, omitting his universally acknowledged half-brothers Baldr and Váli/Bous, indicating not only that Meili is one of the sons of Óðinn, he is likely also the son of Jörð.

The Prose Edda supports his immediate descent from Odin with its (oft-omitted) list of the sons of Odin in the Nafnaþulur of Skáldskaparmál. The text reads:

Sons of Óðinn Baldr and Meili Víðarr and Nepr Váli, Áli Þórr and Hildólfr Hermóðr, Sigi Skjöldr, Yngvi-Freyr and Ítreksjóð Heimdallr, Sæmingr Höðr and Bragi

His name appears to mean "mile-stepper", and if accurate, could mean that he was a Norse god of travel. Given the importance of travel in Norse culture, Meili would then have been an important figure in the Norse pantheon, but no first-hand accounts of his status are known to exist, so his rank and function among the Æsir remains a point of conjecture.

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Meili (view authors). As with Myth and Folklore Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported).
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