![Nerthus by Emil Doepler](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Nerthus_by_Emil_Doepler.jpg)
In
Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism or Germanic religion refers to the traditional, culturally significant religion of the Germanic peoples. With a chronological range of at least one thousand years in an area covering Scandinavia, the British Isles, modern Germ ...
, Nerthus is a
goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...
associated with a ceremonial wagon procession. Nerthus is attested by first century AD Roman historian
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his t ...
in his ethnographic work ''
Germania
Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north- ...
''.
In ''Germania'', Tacitus records that a group of
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
were particularly distinguished by their veneration of the goddess. Tacitus describes the wagon procession in some detail: Nerthus's cart is found on an unspecified island in the "ocean", where it is kept in a
sacred grove
Sacred groves or sacred woods are groves of trees and have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. They were important features of the mythological landscape and ...
and draped in white cloth. Only a priest may touch it. When the priest detects Nerthus's presence by the cart, the cart is drawn by
heifer
Heifer may refer to:
* Heifer (cow), a young cow before she has had her first calf
* Frank Heifer (1854–1893), American outfielder and first baseman
* '' The Heifer'' (''La vaquilla''), 1985 Spanish comedy film
* Heifer International
Heifer ...
s. Nerthus's cart is met with celebration and peacetime everywhere it goes, and during her procession no one goes to war and all iron objects are locked away. In time, after the goddess has had her fill of human company, the priest returns the cart to her "temple" and slaves ritually wash the goddess, her cart, and the cloth in a "secluded lake". According to Tacitus, the slaves are then immediately drowned in the lake.
Scholars have linked Tacitus's description of ceremonial wagons found from around Tacitus's time up until the Viking Age, particularly the Germanic Iron Age
Dejbjerg wagon
The Dejbjerg wagon (Danish ''Dejbjergvognen'') is a composite of two ceremonial wagons found in a peat bog in Dejbjerg near Ringkøbing in western Jutland, Denmark. These votive deposits were dismantled and ritually placed in the bog around 100 BCE ...
in Denmark and the Viking Age
Oseberg ship burial wagon in Norway. The goddess name ''Nerthus'' (from
Proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...
*''Nerþuz'') is the early Germanic etymological precursor to the Old Norse deity name ''
Njörðr
In Norse mythology, Njörðr (Old Norse: ) is a god among the Vanir. Njörðr, father of the deities Freyr and Freyja by Sister-wife of Njörðr, his unnamed sister, was in an ill-fated marriage with the goddess Skaði, lives in Nóatún (myt ...
'', a male deity who is comparably associated with wagons and water in
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
. Together with his children
Freyja
In Norse paganism, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chario ...
and
Freyr
Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, and weather. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden an ...
, the three form the
Vanir
In Norse mythology, the Vanir (; Old Norse: , singular Vanr ) are a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are one of two groups of gods (the other being the Æsir) and are the namesake of the ...
, a family of gods. The Old Norse record contains three narratives featuring ritual wagon processions that scholars have compared to Tacitus's description of Nerthus's wagon procession, one of which (and potentially all of them) focus on Njörðr's son Freyr.
Additionally, scholars have sought to explain the difference in sex between the early Germanic and Old Norse forms of the deity, discussed potential etymological connections to the obscure female deity name
Njörun
In Norse mythology, Njörun (Old Norse: ''Njǫrun'' , sometimes modernly anglicized as ''Niorun'') is a goddess attested in the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and various kennings (including once in the ''Poetic Ed ...
, mention of the mysterious
Sister-wife of Njörðr
In Norse mythology, the sister-wife of Njörðr is the unnamed wife and sister of the god Njörðr, with whom he is described as having had the (likewise incestuous) twin children Freyr and Freyja. This shadowy goddess is attested in the ''Poetic E ...
, proposed a variety of locations for where the procession may have occurred (generally in
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
), and considered Tacitus's sources for his description.
Tacitus's Nerthus has had some influence on popular culture, and in particular the now widely rejected manuscript reading of ''Hertha'' in Germany.
Etymology
Scholars commonly identify the goddess Nerthus with
Njörðr
In Norse mythology, Njörðr (Old Norse: ) is a god among the Vanir. Njörðr, father of the deities Freyr and Freyja by Sister-wife of Njörðr, his unnamed sister, was in an ill-fated marriage with the goddess Skaði, lives in Nóatún (myt ...
, a deity who is attested in
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
texts and in numerous
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
n
place names
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
. Scholars identify the Romano-Germanic ''Nerthus'' as the linguistic precursor to the Old Norse deity name ''Njörðr'' and have
reconstructed the form as
Proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...
*''Nerþuz''.
["Most scholars accept that the name Njǫrðr, the wealthy hostage sent to the Æsir and the father of Freyr and Freyja, is identical to that of a goddess Nerthus "or Mother Earth" described by Tacitus in ''Germania'' ch. 40." (Lindow 2020c: 33); "…since Jacob Grimm, the form ''Nerthum'' has been preferred due to its relation to the Old Norse name Njǫrðr" (Janson 2018: 10-11); "Nerthus has long been seen as the etymon of Njǫrðr." (North 1997: 20); "Since the name Nerthus corresponds phonetically to that of Njǫrðr scholars have accepted her as his female counterpart." (Motz 1992: 3); "Nerthus cannot be other than Njörd ..." (Turville-Petre 1964: 172); "strange has been the history of this goddess Nerthus in modern times. Sixteenth century scholars found irresistible the temptation to emend the name of 'Mother Earth' into ''Herthum'', which nineteenth century scholars further improved into ''Hertham'', ''Ertham''. For many years this false goddess drove out the rightful deity from the fortieth chapter of the ''Germania''" (Chambers 2001 ]912
Year 912 ( CMXII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
__NOTOC__
Events By place Byzantine Empire
* May 11 – Emperor Leo VI (the Wise) dies after a 26-year reign in wh ...
70). As outlined by philologist John McKinnell, "Nerthus > *''Njarðuz'' (
breaking) > *''Njǫrðuz'' > ''Njǫrðr''".
[McKinnell (2005: 50).] Scholars have additionally linked both ''Nerthus'' and ''Njörðr'' to the obscure Old Norse goddess name ''
Njörun
In Norse mythology, Njörun (Old Norse: ''Njǫrun'' , sometimes modernly anglicized as ''Niorun'') is a goddess attested in the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and various kennings (including once in the ''Poetic Ed ...
''.
[See for example Hopkins 2012: 39 ("From this survey we may conclude that academic consensus is that ''Njǫrun'' is potentially related to ''Njǫrðr'' and so too to the Proto-Germanic forebear of the name, *''Nerþuz''"), Sturtevant 1952: 167, de Vries 1977: 410-411, and Finnur Jónsson 1931: 429.]
The meaning of the
theonym
A theonym (from Greek ''theos'' (Θεός), "god"'','' attached to ''onoma'' (ὄνομα), "name") is the proper name of a deity.
Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics (the study of the etymology, history, and u ...
is unclear, but seems to be cognate with
Old Irish
Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...
''nert'', meaning 'strength', perhaps meaning 'the powerful one'. The name may be related to
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''geneorð'', meaning 'contented', and the Old English place name ''
Neorxnawang
Neorxnawang (also Neorxenawang and Neorxnawong) is an Old English noun used to translate the Christian concept of paradise in Anglo-Saxon literature.Simek (2007:229). Scholars propose that the noun originally derives from Germanic mythology, referr ...
'', used to gloss the word 'paradise' in Old English texts, or the word ''north''. According to philologist
Jaan Puhvel
Jaan Puhvel (born 24 January 1932) is an Estonian comparative linguist and comparative mythologist who specializes in Indo-European studies.
Born in Estonia, Puhvel fled his country with his family in 1944 following the Soviet occupation o ...
, "*Nerthuz is etymologically ambivalent, cognate not only with Old Irish ''nert'' 'strength' and Greek ''andro''- but with Vedic ''sū-nrt́ā'' 'good vigor, vitality' (used especially for
Uṣás, thus gender ambivalent)".
[Puhvel 1989: 205.] According to McKinnell, "The meaning of the name has usually been connected with Old Irish ''nert'' ‘strength’ (so ‘the powerful one’), but it might be related to Old English ''geneorð'' ‘contented’ and ''
neorxnawang
Neorxnawang (also Neorxenawang and Neorxnawong) is an Old English noun used to translate the Christian concept of paradise in Anglo-Saxon literature.Simek (2007:229). Scholars propose that the noun originally derives from Germanic mythology, referr ...
'' ‘paradise’ (literally ‘field of contentment’), or to the word ‘north’ (i.e. ‘deity of the northern people’, cf. Greek νέρτερος ‘belonging to the underworld’)."
[McKinnell 2005: 51.]
''Germania''
In chapter 40 of his ethnography ''Germania'', Roman historian Tacitus, discussing the Suebian tribes of
Germania
Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north- ...
, writes that beside the populous
Semnones
The Semnones were a Germanic and specifically a Suevian people, who were settled between the Elbe and the Oder in the 1st century when they were described by Tacitus in ''Germania'':
"The Semnones give themselves out to be the most ancient and r ...
and warlike
Langobardi
The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774.
The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 and ...
there are seven more remote Suebian tribes; the
Reudigni The Reudigni were one of the Nerthus-worshipping Germanic tribes mentioned by Tacitus in ''Germania''. Schüttebr>suggests that the name should be read Rendingi or Randingi and then the name would be the same as the Rondings of ''Widsith''. They ha ...
,
Aviones The Aviones or Auiones (*''Awioniz'' meaning "island people") were one of the Nerthus-worshipping Germanic tribes of the 1st century mentioned by Tacitus in '' Germania'', and they lived either in the southern Jutland Peninsula, or on Öland. They a ...
,
Anglii
The Angles ( ang, Ængle, ; la, Angli) were one of the main Germanic peoples who settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period. They founded several kingdoms of the Heptarchy in Anglo-Saxon England. Their name is the root of the name ' ...
,
Varini
The Varini, Warni or Warini were one or more Germanic peoples who originally lived in what is now northeastern Germany, near the Baltic sea.
They are first named in the Roman era, and appear to have survived into the Middle Ages. It is proposed ...
,
Eudoses
The Jutes (), Iuti, or Iutæ ( da, Jyder, non, Jótar, ang, Ēotas) were one of the Germanic people, Germanic tribes who settled in Great Britain after the end of Roman rule in Britain, departure of the Roman Empire, Romans. According to Bede ...
,
Suarines The Suarines or Suardones were one of the Nerthus-worshipping Germanic tribes mentioned by Tacitus in '' Germania''. They have otherwise been lost to history, but Schütte suggests that their name lives on in the name of the town Schwerin.
Literar ...
, and
Nuitones The Nuithones were one of the Nerthus-worshipping Germanic tribes mentioned by Tacitus in '' Germania''. Schüttebr>remarks that the name is probably corrupt and suggests that the correct forms were Teutones or Euthiones (Jutes).
''(Original Latin ...
. The seven tribes are surrounded by rivers and forests and, according to Tacitus, there is nothing particularly worthy of comment about them as individuals, yet they are particularly distinguished as a group in that they all worship the goddess Nerthus. The chapter reads as follows:
Tacitus's sources
Tacitus does not provide information regarding his sources for his description of Nerthus (nor the rest of ''Germania''). Tacitus's account may stem from earlier but now lost literary works (such as perhaps
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...
's lost ''
Bella Germaniae''), potentially his own experiences in Germania, or merchants and soldiers, such as Germanic peoples in Rome or Germania and Romans who spent time in the region.
[For example, according to James B. Rives, "... Tacitus may very well have served on the Germanic frontier himself, and certainly would have had many opportunities to talk both with Romans who had experience in Germania and with Germani serving in the Roman army" (Mattingly 2009: xlii). See also discussion in Bintley 2015: 86-87.]
Tacitus's ''Germania'' places particular emphasis on the Semnones, and scholars have suggested that some or all of Tacitus's information may come from king
Masyas
Masyas, Masyus or Masyos ( gr, Μάσυος) was a King of the Semnones ( gr, Σεμνόνων βασιλεύς) in the 1st century. The Semnones were a Germanic tribe, part of the Suebi. Cassius Dio writes that he at one point visited Roman emper ...
of the Semnones and/or his high priestess, the
seeress
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
Ganna. The two visited Rome for a blessing from Roman emperor
Domitian
Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavi ...
in 92 AD. While Tacitus appears to have been away from Rome during this period, he would have had plenty of opportunity to gain information provided by king Masyas and/or Ganna from those who spent time with the two during their visit.
[For example, according to Richard North (1997: 22), "Tacitus's informant may have been King Masyos of the Semnones, who visited Rome in 92: The Semnones are described in preferential detail in ch. 39, immediately before the account of Nerthus in ch. 40". See also discussion in Bintley 2015: 86-87.]
Reception
Tacitus's description of the Nerthus procession has been the subject of extensive discussion from scholars.
Name and manuscript variations
All surviving manuscripts of Tacitus's ''Germania'' date from around the fifteenth century and these display significant variation in the name of the goddess: All attested forms are in
accusative case
The accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb.
In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and ‘the ...
and include ''Nertum'' (yielding the nominate form ''Nerthus''), ''Herthum'' (implying a nominative form of ''Hertha'') and several others (including ''Nechtum'', ''Neithum'', ''Neherthum'', and ''Verthum'').
[For discussion on these forms, see for example Lindow 2020b: 1331 and McKinnell 2005: 50-52.]
Of the various forms found in the extant ''Germania'' manuscript tradition, two have yielded significant discussion among scholars since at least the 19th century, ''Nerthus'' and ''Hertha''. Hertha was popular in some of the earliest layers of ''Germania'' scholarship, such as the edition of
Beatus Rhenanus
Beatus Rhenanus (22 August 148520 July 1547), born as Beatus Bild, was a German humanist, religious reformer, classical scholar, and book collector.
Early life and education
Rhenanus was born on the 22 August 1485 in Schlettstadt (Sélestat) ...
. These scholars linked the name with a common German word for ''Earth'' (compare modern German ''Erde''). This reading has subsequently been rejected by most scholars. Since pioneering 19th century
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
Jacob Grimm's identification of the form Nerthus as the etymological precursor to the Old Norse deity name ''
Njǫrðr'', the reading ''Nerthus'' has been widely accepted as correct in scholarship.
In 1902, the
Codex Aesinas
The Codex Aesinas (''Codex Aesinas Latinus 8'') is a 15th-century composite manuscript. It was discovered by chance in 1902 at the former private estate of the Count Baldeschi Balleani family located in Jesi, in the province of Ancona, Italy. ...
(often abbreviated as ''E'') was discovered, and it was also found to contain the form ''Nertum'', yielding the reading ''Nerthus''. The Codex Aesinas is a 15th-century composite manuscript that is considered a direct copy of the
Codex Hersfeldensis, the oldest identifiable manuscript of the text. All other manuscripts of Tacitus's ''Germania'' are thought by scholars to stem from the Codex Aesinas.
[As summarized by M. J. Towsell, "The modern textual history of the Germania begins … with the fifteenth-century humanist manuscript known as the Codex Aesinas, which appears to be the source of all the other Germania manuscripts (and very many copies were made in the Renaissance, all of which appear to be direct or indirect copies of this single manuscript)." (Toswell 2010: 30) Regarding Nerthus and the Codex Aesinas, see discussion in Lindow 2020b: 1331.]
Some scholars have continued suggesting alternate readings to ''Nerthus''. For example, in 1992,
Lotte Motz
Lotte Motz, born Lotte Edlis (August 16, 1922 – December 24, 1997) was an Austrian-American scholar, obtaining a Ph.D. in German and philology, who published four books and many scholarly papers, primarily in the fields of Germanic mythology an ...
proposes that the linguistic correspondence is a coincidence and that "The variant ''nertum'' was chosen by Grimm ''because'' it corresponds to Njǫrðr".
[Motz, however, states that she does not propose the reading ''Hertha'': "I do not wish to advocate the name Hertha for the goddess; I merely wish to state that the phonetic coincidence of the variant with the name of an Eddic god does not suffice to support an identify of the two numina." (Motz 1992: 3-4).] Instead, Motz propose that various female entities from the continental Germanic folklore record, particularly those in central Germany and the Alps, stem from a single source, who she identifies as Nerthus, and that migrating Germanic peoples brought the goddess to those regions from coastal Scandinavia.
[Motz 1992: 12-16.] After her death, Motz's proposal received support from
Rudolf Simek
Rudolf Simek (born 21 February 1954) is an Austrian philologist and religious studies scholar who is Professor and Chair of Ancient German studies, German and Scandinavian studies, Nordic Studies at the University of Bonn. Simek specializes in G ...
. John Lindow rejects Motz's proposal and Simek's support. He highlights the presence of the form in the Codex Aesinas (discovered in 1902, while Grimm died in 1863), and asks, "would it not be an extraordinary coincidence that a deity who fits the pattern of the later fertility gods should have a name that is etymologically identical with one of them?"
[Lindow (2020a: 108) says: "Rudolf Simek takes seriously the suggestion of Lotte Motz (1992) that other name forms in the humanist editions of ''Germania'' are as valid as Nerthus and that the deity in ch. 40 has nothing to do with Njǫrðr but rather should be associated with Frau Percht or Frau Holle in recent folklore Simek 2003: 56–57. But as Simek admits, Nerthus has manuscript witness. Furthermore, Motz's argument for conceptual similarities seems forced." & Lindow 2020b: 1331.]
Location
Scholars have proposed a variety of locations for Tacitus's account of Nerthus. For example,
Anders Andrén says:
:In the accounts of specific Germanic tribes, Tacitus also writes about the
divine twins
The Divine Twins are youthful horsemen, either gods or demigods, who serve as rescuers and healers in Proto-Indo-European mythology.
Like other Proto-Indo-European divinities, the Divine Twins are not directly attested by archaeological or writte ...
, the
Alcis, among the
Naharvali The Nahanarvali, also known as the Nahavali, Naha-Narvali, and Nahanavali, were a Germanic tribe mentioned by the Roman scholar Tacitus in his '' Germania''.
According to Tacitus, the Nahanarvali were one of the five most powerful tribes of the Lug ...
, and about the goddess Nerthus among a group of tribes, probably located in the southern part of present-day Denmark.
[Andrén 2020: 212.]
Some scholars have proposed that the location of the Nerthus procession occurred on
Zealand
Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020.
It is the 1 ...
in Denmark. They link the Nerthus with the medieval place name ''Niartharum'' (modern
Nærum
Nærum () is a suburban district in Rudersdal Municipality in the north outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. Quartered by the Helsingør Motorway running north–south and Skodsborgvej running east–west, Nærum is bounded by Jægersborg Hegn on ...
) located on Zealand. Further justification is given in that
Lejre
Lejre is a railway town, with a population of 3,127 (1 January 2022),[Gefjon
In Norse mythology, Gefjon (Old Norse: ; alternatively spelled Gefion, or Gefjun , pronounced without secondary syllable stress) is a goddess associated with ploughing, the Danish island of Zealand, the legendary Swedish king Gylfi, the legendary ...](_blank)
, who is said to have plowed the island of Zealand from Sweden in the ''
Prose Edda
The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been t ...
'' book ''
Gylfaginning
''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; c. 20,000 words; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'' after the Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' deals with th ...
'' and in Lejre wed the legendary Danish king
Skjöldr
Skjöldr (Latinized as Skioldus, sometimes Anglicized as Skjold or Skiold) was among the first List of legendary kings of Denmark, legendary Danish kings. He is mentioned in the ''Prose Edda'', in ''Ynglinga saga'', in ''Chronicon Lethrense'', i ...
.
[Chadwick 1907:267—268, 289 and Davidson 1964:113.]
Chambers notes that the mistaken name ''Hertha'' (see ''Name and manuscript variations'' above) led to the
hydronym
A hydronym (from el, ὕδρω, , "water" and , , "name") is a type of toponym that designates a proper name of a body of water. Hydronyms include the proper names of rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes, seas and oceans. As a ...
''
Herthasee'', a lake on the German island of
Rügen
Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...
, which antiquarians proposed as a potential location of the Nerthus site described in Tacitus. However, along with the rejection of the reading ''Hertha'', the location is no longer considered to be a potential site.
[Chambers 2001: 69-71.]
Difference in sex between Nerthus and Njörðr
Although ''Njörðr'' etymologically descends from *''Nerþuz'', Tacitus describes Nerthus female while the Old Norse deity Njörðr is male. The form *''Nerþuz'' does indicate whether the deity was considered male or female. This difference in sex between the two has resulted in significant discussion from scholars. A variety of reasons for this difference have been proposed: Over the years, scholars have variously proposed that that Nerthus was likely one of a pair of deities in a manner similar to Njörðr's incestuous children
Freyr
Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, and weather. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden an ...
and
Freyja
In Norse paganism, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chario ...
(perhaps involving ''
hieros gamos
''Hieros gamos'', hieros (ἱερός) meaning "holy" or "sacred" and gamos (γάμος) meaning marriage, or Hierogamy (Greek , "holy marriage"), is a sacred marriage that plays out between a god and a goddess, especially when enacted in a symb ...
''), that Nerthus was a
hermaphroditic
In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes.
Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have separ ...
deity, that the deity's sex simply changed from female to male over time, or that Tacitus's account mistakes Nerthus for a female deity rather than male deity.
[See for example discussion in Lindow 2020: 1332, Simek 2007: 230, North 1997: 20-24, and Turville-Petre 1964: 172.] Others have proposed that a 'female Njörðr' continues into the Old Norse corpus as the
Sister-wife of Njörðr
In Norse mythology, the sister-wife of Njörðr is the unnamed wife and sister of the god Njörðr, with whom he is described as having had the (likewise incestuous) twin children Freyr and Freyja. This shadowy goddess is attested in the ''Poetic E ...
and/or in the goddess name ''
Njörun
In Norse mythology, Njörun (Old Norse: ''Njǫrun'' , sometimes modernly anglicized as ''Niorun'') is a goddess attested in the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and various kennings (including once in the ''Poetic Ed ...
''.
[See for example discussion in Hopkins 2012: 39-40.]
Wagons, wagon processions, the Vanir, and cyclical rituals
Scholars associate Tacitus's description of Nerthus's ''vehiculum'' (translated above by Birley as "chariot" and by Mattingly as "cart") ritually deposited in a ''lacus'' (translated by Birley and Mattingly above as "lake") with ceremonial wagons found ritually placed in peat bogs around Tacitus's time, ceremonial wagons from the Viking Age, and descriptions of ceremonial wagon processions in Old Norse texts.
[For example, see Schjødt 2020a: 631-634, McKinnell 2005: 50-52, North 1997: 1-25, Gunnell 1995: 53-60, Davidson 1988: 116-119, and Turville-Petre 1964: 173.] Notable examples include the
Dejbjerg wagon
The Dejbjerg wagon (Danish ''Dejbjergvognen'') is a composite of two ceremonial wagons found in a peat bog in Dejbjerg near Ringkøbing in western Jutland, Denmark. These votive deposits were dismantled and ritually placed in the bog around 100 BCE ...
—in fact a composite of two wagons—discovered in western Jutland, Denmark.
[For example, as Terry Gunnell puts it, "that such a wagon existed in real life is supported by archaeological evidence in the form of two early Iron Age wagons that were deposited in the bogs at Dejbjerg, Jylland, at a time close to that of Tacitus's account. It is highly tempting to draw direct parallels between these wagons and those of Nerthus and Freyr described above." (Gunnell 1995: 59.)] A wagon from the Viking Age was found in the
Oseberg ship burial in Norway. This wagon may have been incapable of turning corners and may been solely used for ritual purposes.
[Gunnell 1995: 59.] The ship burial contains tapestry fragments, today known as the
Oseberg tapestry fragments
The Oseberg tapestry is a fragmentary tapestry, discovered within the Viking Oseberg ship burial in Norway.
The tapestry (dated to about 834AD) is in bad condition and was probably a part of the funeral offering in the ship burial. Its decay me ...
. These fragments depict a wagon procession.
[Gunnell 1995: 60.]
File:Dejbjergvognen DO-621 original.jpg, The Dejbjerg wagon
The Dejbjerg wagon (Danish ''Dejbjergvognen'') is a composite of two ceremonial wagons found in a peat bog in Dejbjerg near Ringkøbing in western Jutland, Denmark. These votive deposits were dismantled and ritually placed in the bog around 100 BCE ...
on display at the National Museum of Denmark, found deposited in a peat bog in Denmark and dating from around Tacitus's time.
File:Fra Osebergfunnet - no-nb digifoto 20150217 00188 NB MIT FNR 16730.jpg, The reconstructed ceremonial wagon found in the Viking Age Oseberg ship burial. One side of the wagon features a depiction of nine cats.
File:Oseberg Wagon detail 2.jpg, Detail of the Oseberg wagon's depiction of nine cats.
In Norse mythology, Njörðr is strongly associated with water, and he and his children, Freyr and Freyja, are particularly associated with wagons. Together this family is known in Old Norse sources as the
Vanir
In Norse mythology, the Vanir (; Old Norse: , singular Vanr ) are a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are one of two groups of gods (the other being the Æsir) and are the namesake of the ...
. Njörðr is referred to as "god of wagons" (Old Norse ''vagna guð'') in the principal manuscript of ''
Skáldskaparmál
''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Language of Poetry'; c. 50,000 words; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda''.
The section consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry, in ...
'' (the Codex Regius).
[According to John Lindow, "... we should accept that Snorri knew more valid kennings than are attested in the verse he cites. For example, he tells that Njǫrðr may be kenned as ''vagna guð'' (god of wagons), which can be associated with the wagon that pulled Nerthus in Tacitus. We do not think that the association is fortuitous." (Lindow 2020a: 78 with further discussion in Lindow 2020: 1333). "With regard to Nerthus and the ''vehiculum'' in ch. 40 of ''Germania'', Njǫrðr is known as ''vagna guð'' ('god of wagons') in a scaldic kenning cited in the principal manuscript of ''Skáldskaparmál''" (North 1997: 24).] According to the ''Prose Edda'', Freyja drives a chariot driven by cats, which scholars have linked to the depiction of nine cats on the Oseberg ship burial wagon, potentially indicating a wagon procession featuring the goddess.
[Ingunn Ásdísardóttir 2020: 1278-1279, 1287.] Dated to the 14th century, ''
Ögmundar þáttr dytts ''Ögmundar þáttr dytts ok Gunnars helmings'' is one of the Icelandic '' þættir''. It was written in the 14th century. It relates the story of Ögmundr dyttr, a cousin of Víga-Glúmr from ''Víga-Glúms saga''. He is insulted in Norway and achi ...
'' tells of a ritual wagon procession wherein a depiction of Freyr is driven around in a wagon by a priestess in a manner scholars have compared to Tacitus's description.
[Gunnell 1995: 54-59.]
Similar wagon procession-narratives may be found in two other texts, namely a description of a god name
Lýtir
Lytir (Old Norse ''Lýtir'') is considered a god in Norse mythology and Norse paganism. His name is either related to the Old Norse word ''hlutr'', meaning "lot, share, foretell" or ''lýti'' meaning ''blemish''. If the former meaning is assumed, ...
in ''
Flateyjarbók
''Flateyjarbók'' (; "Book of Flatey") is an important medieval Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name ''Codex Flateyensis''. It was commissioned by Jón Hákonarson and produced by the priests and scribes ...
'' and one featuring
Frotho in ''
Gesta Danorum
''Gesta Danorum'' ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark an ...
'', who is driven around for three days after his death so that the country wouldn't crumble. Both of these names have been interpreted by scholars as likely bynames for Freyr.
[Noting a comparable episode in ''Ynglinga saga'' describing a euhemerized account of Freyr's death and Saxo's description of Frotho's death, John Lindow notes that "clearly the two figures played out the same mythic pattern, and many scholars think they may have been the same figure (Lindow 2001: 124). On Lýtir and Freyr, see Simek 2007: 198-199.]
Some scholars have interpreted this to reflect that this procession occurred as a cyclic ritual associated with the Vanir. According to
Jens Peter Schjødt, "if we accept a close relationship among, perhaps even an identity of, Nerthus, Freyr, and Frotho ... it appears that these three descriptions are all part of a discourse connecting gods of the ''vanir'' type with circumambulations and thus with processions focusing on yearly rituals."
[Schjødt 2020a: 633.] Schjødt further says:
:Cyclical rituals have no doubt taken place during several millennia in the North as well as everywhere else. One of the most famous descriptions of such a ritual from the Early Iron Age is Tacitus's description of the Nerthus ritual in ''Germania'' ch. 40. Although it is not said explicitly that this is a cyclical ritual, there is no doubt that it is recurring and that it involves the whole community. Like with most other rituals of this type, we are not told at what time of the year the Nerthus procession took place, but since it is clearly a ritual connected with fertility and peace, we may conjecture that it was not during the summer, which was the season for war and other kinds of male activities.
[Schjødt 2020b: 803.]
Hilda Davidson draws a parallel between these incidents and Tacitus's account of Nerthus, suggesting that in addition a neck-ring-wearing female figure "kneeling as if to drive a chariot" also dates from the Bronze Age. Davidson says that the evidence suggests that similar customs as detailed in Tacitus's account continued to exist during the close of the pagan period through worship of the Vanir.
[Davidson 1964:96.]
Bog bodies
![Tollundmannen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Tollundmannen.jpg)
Known as
bog bodies
A bog body is a human cadaver that has been naturally mummified in a peat bog. Such bodies, sometimes known as bog people, are both geographically and chronologically widespread, having been dated to between and the Second World War. Fischer 19 ...
, numerous well-preserved human remains have been found in
peat bog
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...
s in Northern Europe. Like the wagons interred in peat bogs discussed above, these bodies were intentionally and ritually placed. Various scholars have linked Tacitus's description of drowned slaves in a "lake" as a reference to the interment of human corpses in peat bogs. For example, according to archaeologist
Peter Vilhelm Glob:
:The description of the goddess' attendants in the lake on the completion of the rites recalls the sacrificed bog people. There is indeed much to suggest that the bog people were participants in ritual celebrations of this kind, which culminated in their death and deposition in the bogs.
[Glob 2004 965 163. On Glob and Nerthus, see further discussion in Sanders 2009: 6-7.]
"Mother Earth" and the Roman cult of Cybele
![AiKhanoumPlateSharp](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/AiKhanoumPlateSharp.jpg)
In his description of Nerthus, Tacitus refers to the goddess as "Mother Earth" (''Terra Mater''). This has been received by scholars in a variety of ways and impacted early manuscript readings of the deity's name (especially ''Herthum'', see "Name and manuscript variations" section above). In his assessment of the Old Norse personification of earth (''
Jörð
Jörð ( non, Jǫrð, lit=earth) is the personification of earth and a goddess in Norse mythology. She is the mother of the thunder god Thor and a sexual partner of Odin. Jörð is attested in Danish historian ''Gesta Danorum'', composed in t ...
'', a goddess in
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
), McKinnell says that the Old Norse earth personification does not appear to be notably connected to the
Vanir
In Norse mythology, the Vanir (; Old Norse: , singular Vanr ) are a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are one of two groups of gods (the other being the Æsir) and are the namesake of the ...
, Njörðr, and/or Nerthus. He concludes that "it seems likely that Tacitus equates Nerthus with ''Terra Mater'' as an ''
interpretatio Romana
''Interpretatio graeca'' (Latin, "Greek translation") or "interpretation by means of Greek odels is a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cultures; a comparative methodology using ancient Gr ...
'', a translation into terms his Roman readers would find familiar."
[McKinnell 2022: 539.] John Lindow says that Tacitus's "identification with Mother Earth probably has much less to do with Jörd in Scandinavian mythology than with fertility goddesses in many cultures".
[Lindow 2001: 237.]
The
Phyrgia
In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...
n goddess
Cybele
Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya'' "Kubileya/Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian ''Kuvava''; el, Κυβέλη ''Kybele'', ''Kybebe'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forer ...
had been absorbed into the Roman pantheon by Tacitus's time, and Tacitus himself served as a priest in the cult of Cybele, which included duties such as washing a sacred cult stone. Similar to Tacitus's description of Nerthus, Cybele was at times closely connected to or conflated with the concept of ''Terra Mater'' ('Mother Earth') through her identity as ''Mater Deum'' ('Mother of the Gods'), and was at times depicted with a chariot pulled by lions.
[See discussion in for example North 1995: 20-23.]
Modern influence
The
minor planet
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
601 Nerthus is named after Nerthus. The form "Hertha" was adopted by
several German football clubs.
Up until its superseding as the dominant reading, ''Hertha'' had some influence in German popular culture. For example, ''Hertha'' and ''
Herthasee'' (see "location" section above) play major roles in German novelist
Theodor Fontane
Theodor Fontane (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known toda ...
's 1896 novel ''
Effi Briest
''Effi Briest'' is a realist novel by Theodor Fontane. Published in book form in 1895, ''Effi Briest'' marks both a watershed and a climax in the poetic realism of literature. It can be thematically compared to other novels on 19th century mar ...
''.
[Hardy 2001: 125.]
See also
*
Auðumbla
In Norse mythology, Auðumbla ɔuðˌumblɑ(also Auðhumla ɔuðˌhumlɑ and Auðumla ɔuðˌumlɑ ) is a primeval cow. The primordial frost jötunn Ymir fed from her milk, and over the course of three days she Mineral lick#Mythol ...
, a primeval cow in the mythology of the North Germanic peoples
*
Baduhenna In Germanic paganism, Baduhenna is a goddess. Baduhenna is solely attested in Tacitus's ''Annals'' where Tacitus records that a sacred grove in ancient Frisia was dedicated to her, and that near this grove 900 Roman soldiers were killed in 28 CE. S ...
, a Germanic goddess mentioned by Tacitus in his ''Annals''
*
"Isis" of the Suebi In Roman historian Tacitus's first century CE book ''Germania'', Tacitus describes the veneration of what he deems as an "Isis" of the Suebi. Due to Tacitus's usage of ''interpretatio romana'' elsewhere in the text, his admitted uncertainty, and his ...
, another apparently Germanic goddess mentioned by Tacitus in his ''Germania''
*
Nereus
In Greek mythology, Nereus ( ; ) was the eldest son of Pontus (the Sea) and Gaia (the Earth), with Pontus himself being a son of Gaia. Nereus and Doris became the parents of 50 daughters (the Nereids) and a son ( Nerites), with whom Nereus liv ...
, a deity and son of the sea and earth in Greek mythology
*
Tamfana In Germanic paganism, Tamfana is a goddess. The destruction of a temple dedicated to the goddess is recorded by Roman senator Tacitus to have occurred during a massacre of the Germanic Marsi by forces led by Roman general Germanicus. Scholars have a ...
, another Germanic goddess mentioned by Tacitus in his ''Annals''
Notes
References
* Andrén, Anders. 2020. "The Spatial and Temporal Frame" in Jens Peter Schjødt, John Lindow, and Anders Andrén, ed. ''The Pre-Christian Religions of the North. History and Structures, Volume I: Basic Premises and Consideration of Sources'', pp. 135–160.
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Brepols is a Belgian publishing house. Once, it was one of the largest printing companies in the world and one of the main employers in Turnhout (Belgium). Besides its printing business, Brepols is also active as a publisher. Formerly well known ...
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* Bintley, Michael D. J. 2015. ''Trees in the Religions of Early Medieval England''. Boydell Press.
* Birley, A. R. Trans. 1999. ''Agricola and Germany''.
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Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
.
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Year 912 ( CMXII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
__NOTOC__
Events By place Byzantine Empire
* May 11 – Emperor Leo VI (the Wise) dies after a 26-year reign in wh ...
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Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
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* de Vries, Jan. 1977. ''Altnordisches Etymologisches Worterbuch''. Brill.
* Finnur Jónsson. 1931. ''Lexicon poeticum''. S. L. Møllers bogtrykkeri.
* Glob, P. V. 2004
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* Gunnell, Terry. 1995. ''The Origins of Drama in Scandinavia''. D.S. Brewer.
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* Ingunn Ásdísardóttir. 2020. "Freyja" in "Written Sources" in Jens Peter Schjødt, John Lindow, and Anders Andrén, ed. ''The Pre-Christian Religions of the North. History and Structures, Volume III: Social, Geographical, and Historic Contexts, and Communication between Worlds'', pp. 1273–1302.
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* Lindow, John. 2020a. "Written Sources" in Jens Peter Schjødt, John Lindow, and Anders Andrén, ed. ''The Pre-Christian Religions of the North. History and Structures, Volume I: Basic Premises and Consideration of Sources'', pp. 63–101.
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Brepols is a Belgian publishing house. Once, it was one of the largest printing companies in the world and one of the main employers in Turnhout (Belgium). Besides its printing business, Brepols is also active as a publisher. Formerly well known ...
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Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...
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* McKinnell, John. 2005. ''Meeting the Other in Norse Myth and Legend''. D. S. Brewer.
* McKinnell, John. 2022. "The Earth as Body in Old Norse". ''Religionsvidenskabeligt Tidsskrift'' 74: 534–550
Viewable online
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Further reading
* Polomé, E. "A Propos De La Déesse Nerthus." Latomus 13, no. 2 (1954): 167–200. www.jstor.org/stable/41517674.
* Dumézil, Georges. "Njordr, Nerthus et le folklore scandinave des génies de la mer". In: ''Revue de l'histoire des religions'', tome 147, n°2, 1955. pp. 210–226.
OI: https://doi.org/10.3406/rhr.1955.7224; www.persee.fr/doc/rhr_0035-1423_1955_num_147_2_7224
{{Authority control
Fertility goddesses
Germanic goddesses
Harvest goddesses
Vanir