Kvasir

According to the Prose Edda, Kvasir was instrumental in the capture and binding of Loki, and an euhemerized account of the god appears in Heimskringla, where he is attested as the wisest among the Vanir.

Loki considered what sort of device the gods might craft to catch him there, and so, sitting in his four-door mountain lookout house, knotted together linen thread in "which ever since the net has been".

The gods used the shape found in the ash as their model, and with it fished Loki from the river to make him their prisoner, later binding him in torment until the coming of Ragnarök.

In reference, part of Vellekla by the 10th century Icelandic skald Einarr skálaglamm is provided, where the term "Kvasir's blood" for 'poetry' is used.

[6][7] The root kvas- in Kvas-ir likely stems from the Proto-Germanic base *kvass-, meaning "to squeeze, squash, crush, bruise".

Regarding this etymology, linguist Albert Morey Sturtevant comments that "fluids may result from the crushing or pressing of an object (cf.

[6][7] The common Slavic word stems from Proto-Slavic *kvasъ ("leaven", "fermented drink") and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European base *kwh₂et-.

[9] This etymological connection, as considered by some scholars (Alexander Afanasyev,[10] Richard Heinzel,[11] Jooseppi Julius Mikkola,[12] Georges Dumézil,[13] et al.), is motivated by the consideration of kvasir as a personification of fermented beverages.

[14] Simek says that Snorri's description is further proven faithful by way of the (above-mentioned) 10th-century skaldic kenning "Kvasir’s blood" (Old Norse Kvasis dreyra).

He also points out strong parallels exist between the Old Norse tale of the theft of the Mead of Poetry by Odin (in the form of an eagle) and the Sanskrit tale of the theft of Soma (beverage of the gods) by the god Indra (or an eagle), and that these parallels point to a common Proto-Indo-European basis.