Sleipnir most likely got his eight legs after Loki. Loki is thought to have been the spider god in older germanic paganism (Odin is probably a merge of the horse, raven and wolf). Also, "Loke" (or other variations) can literally mean spider in various scandinavian dialects. In faroese for example "lokkanet" means 'spiderweb'.
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Sleipnir most likely got his eight legs after Loki. Loki is thought to have been the spider god in older germanic paganism (Odin is probably a merge of the horse, raven and wolf). Also, "Loke" (or other variations) can literally mean spider in various scandinavian dialects. In faroese for example "lokkanet" means 'spiderweb'.