'Cofgod' (plural ''Cofgodas'' ("cove-gods")) was an Old English term for a

household god A household deity is a deity or spirit that protects the home, looking after the entire household or certain key members. It has been a common belief in paganism as well as in folklore across many parts of the world. Household deities fit into ...

Anglo-Saxon paganism Anglo-Saxon paganism, sometimes termed Anglo-Saxon heathenism, Anglo-Saxon pre-Christian religion, or Anglo-Saxon traditional religion, refers to the religious beliefs and practices followed by the Anglo-Saxons between the 5th and 8th centurie ...

. The classicist

Ken Dowden Ken Dowden (born 1950) is Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Birmingham. Dowden is from Newcastle-on-Tyne and studied at Worcester College, Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only ...

opined that the ''cofgodas'' were the equivalent of the ''

Penates In ancient Roman religion, the Di Penates () or Penates ( ) were among the ''dii familiares'', or household deities, invoked most often in domestic rituals. When the family had a meal, they threw a bit into the fire on the hearth for the Penates. ...

'' found in Ancient Rome. Dowden also compared them to the

Kobold A kobold (occasionally cobold) is a mythical sprite. Having spread into Europe with various spellings including "goblin" and "hobgoblin", and later taking root and stemming from Germanic mythology, the concept survived into modern times in Ger ...

s of later German folklore, arguing that they had both originated from the ''kofewalt'', a spirit that had power over a room. If it is true that such beings were known to the early English, later legendary beings such as the English hob and Anglo-Celtic brownie would be the modern survival of the ''cofgod''. However, the only instance of the word ''cofgodas'' in Old English is as a gloss (an explanatory definition) to the Latin word ''penates.''Dictionary of Old English Corpus s.v. cofgodas. As in other instances where an Old English term only appears glossing a Latin word, this may mean that the term was invented to explain a foreign Latin concept, rather than that it serves as definitive evidence that the concept existed among the English of the period.

References

{{europe-myth-stub Anglo-Saxon paganism English legendary creatures Tutelary deities Household deities