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Nerthus

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Nerthus is a goddess in Germanic paganism associated with fertility. Nerthus was mentioned by Tacitus, a 1st Century AD Roman historian, in his work entitled Germania. An amount of speculation exists regarding the goddess and her potential later traces amongst the Germanic tribes.

Etymology

The actual Germanic name of the goddess in the 1st Century AD might have been *Nerþuz. Etymological links have been made to Njörðr, citing Njörðr as a masculine counterpart to Nerþuz. However, Polomé argues that Njörðr and Nerthus come from different roots. Lotte Motz proposes that the Germanic goddess described by Tacitus may not have been called Nerthus at all and proposes that the name was selected by Grimm from several manuscript variants because it bore an etymological resemblance to Njörðr.

Tacitus' account

Tacitus recorded a second-hand account of a sacrifice to this goddess in a lake:

After the Langobardi come the Reudigni, Auiones, Angli, Varni, Eudoses, Suarines and Nuithones all well guarded by rivers and forests. There is nothing remarkable about any of these tribes unless it be the common worship of Nerthus, that is Earth Mother. They believe she is interested in men's affairs and drives among them.

On an island in the ocean sea there is a sacred grove wherein waits a holy wagon covered by a drape. One priest only is allowed to touch it. He can feel the presence of the goddess when she is there in her sanctuary and accompanies her with great reverence as she is pulled along by kine.

It is a time of festive holiday making in whatever place she decides to honour with her advent and stay. No one goes to war, no one takes up arms, in fact every weapon is put away, only at that time are peace and quiet known and prized until the goddess, having had enough of peoples company, is at last restored by the same priest to her temple. After which the wagon and the drape, and if you like to believe me, the deity herself is bathed in a mysterious pool.

The rite is performed by slaves who, as soon as it is done, are drowned in the lake. In this way mystery begets dread and a pious ignorance concerning what that sight may be which only those who are about to die are allowed to see. --Germania, ch. 40.

Theories

A number of theories have been proposed regarding the figure of Nerthus, including the location of the events described, relations to other known gods and goddesses and her role amongst the Germanic tribes.

Location

A number of scholars have proposed a potential location of Tacticus' account of Nerthus as on the island of Zealand in Denmark. Reasoning behind this notion is the linking the name Nerthus with the medieval place name Niartharum (now called Naerum) located on Zealand. Further justification is given that Lejre, the seat of the ancient kings of Denmark, is also located on Zealand.

Pairs

It has been suggested by Hilda R. Ellis Davidson that that there was possibly originally a male and female pair of deities, Njord and Nerthus, with Freyja later replacing Nerthus. Davidson also proposes that there were other male and female pairings of Germanic gods of whom little is known but their names such as Ullr and Ullin.

If so, Nerthus may have been the sister of Njord and the mother of his children, Freyr and Freyja, who is also described as having a sexual relationship according to Loki in Lokasenna. This may be the reason why Snorri Sturluson wrote in the Ynglinga saga that brother-sister marriages were common and accepted among the Vanir, but not among the Æsir.

Nerthus may have then been a logical counterpart of her brother Njord, in a society of fishermen and farmers, where she would have been associated with the harvest of the land, and her brother with the harvest of the sea.

Worship of Freyr and Freyja (the names mean the lord and the lady respectively) as the great deities of fertility was highly common in Viking Age Scandinavia, even more so than the Eddas might suggest. It is not unlikely then that Freyr and Freyja are the mythological descendants to Nerthus and her male counterpart, while the root in the name Nerthus was shifted to their father. Similaties include that Freyja was described as the great goddess of the Nordic nations, and she also had a famed carriage, albeit drawn by cats and not cows.

The fact that Njord, Freyr and Freyja are Vanir, along with the facts of place names mentioned above, has by some been suggested to indicate that the Vanir, with Nerthus and her postulated consort as main goddess and god, represent the pantheon of an older religion in Scandinavia, possibly of Nordic Bronze Age origin and later overshadowed by the introduction of a new religion with the Æsir as pantheon. If so, Ullr could have been a name Nerthus's counterpart, or another important deity of this religion, later fading greatly out worship.

Gefjun

Links between Gefjun and Nerthus have been proposed in that both names seemingly refer to water and, if the Zealand hypothesis is correct, both would figure into the same vicinity and that Nerthus had later become known under this name in Denmark.

Grendel's Mother

In his work Beowulf and Grendel (2005) author John Grigsby has suggested that the overthrowing of the Vanir religion by that of the Aesir is remembered in the Old English poem Beowulf. Grigsby argues that Grendel's mother is derived from the lake-dwelling Nerthus and that Beowulf's victory over her is symbolic of the ending of the Vanir cult in Denmark by the Odin-worshipping Danes.

Wagon

A story associating of the major Vanir god Freyr with a custom involving a wagon brought about the land in his name to bless the fields exists in a story named Hauks þáttr hábrókar in the 14th century Flateyjarbók manuscripts. In the same manuscript, King Eric of Sweden consults a god named Lytir in a wagon who was brought to his hall and performed a divination ceremony.

H.R. Davidson draws a parallel between these incidents and the Tacitus' account of Nerthus, stating that Lytir could have been another name for Freyr. Further, Davidson notes various archaeological finds of ritual wagons in Denmark dating from 200 AD and the Bronze Age, as well as a neck-ring wearing female figure "kneeling as if to drive a chariot" also from the Bronze Age. Davidson posits that evidence suggest that similar customs as displayed in Tacitus' account continued to exist into the close of the pagan period through worship of the Vanir and Freyr.

War of the Gods

The Æsir were described as having fought with the Vanir in the War of the gods, which has been oft theorized as a mythological description of a shift of religion. This war resulted in linked figures such as Njord, Freyr and Freyja becoming war hostages among the Æsir.

The difference in religious worship between Scandinavian Bronze Age and Iron Age (based on the archaeological material) is not controversial. As an example, the sun wheel symbol is abundant in the archaeological material from Bronze Age Scandinavia, but was later much more scarcely used. The transition between these two practices has not been satisfactory explained, however. Older theories focusing on the invasion and conquest by a warrior culture are today seen as unlikely.

Accepting the view described above of the development of Nerthus and her counterpart into Freyja and Freyr along with their diminished importance does not implicate accepting the shift of religion hypothesis. Followers of the trifunctional hypothesis of Georges Dumézil see the Vanir as the gods of common Norsemen, whereas the Æsir were the gods of the warrior and clerical castes (represented primarily by Thor and Odin respectively). The fading of the Vanir's importance would then suggest a social rather than religious development.

Epyonyms

References

External links



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