Jörð
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In Norse mythology, Jörð (or Jarð in Old East Norse; Earth, sometimes Anglicized Jord or Jorth) is a giantess and the personification of the Earth. She is identified with Fjörgyn and Hlôdyn (Bellinger 1997:235).
Jörð is one of Odin's concubines and the mother of Thor (Gylfaginning 10, 36). She is the daughter of Annar and Nótt and sister of Auð and Dagr. Otherwise she is essentially unknown. In pre-Christian skaldic poetry recorded in Snorri Sturluson's Skáldskaparmál, Jörð is called the rival of Odin's wife Frigg and his other giantess concubines, Rindr and Gunnlod (Lindow 2001:205). Jörð is reckoned a goddess, like other giantesses who coupled with the gods (Orchard 1997:98). Jörð's name appears in skaldic poetry both as a poetic term for the land and in kennings for Thor.
Jörð is the everyday word for earth in Old Norse as are its descendants in the modern Scandinavian languages (Icelandic: jörð, Faroese: jørð, Danish/Swedish/Norwegian: jord). It is cognate to English earth.
[edit] References
- Bellinger, Gerhard J. (1997). Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologi Weltbild/Bechtermünz, Augsburg, ISBN 3828941559.
- Lindow, John (2001). Handbook of Norse Mythology. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California: ISBN 1576072177.
- Orchard, Andy (1997). Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. Cassell, London: ISBN 0304345202.
- Simek, Rudolf (1993). Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer, Cambridge: ISBN 0859915131.
- Turville-Petre, E.O.G. (1964). Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. Holt, Rinehart, New York: ISBN 0837174201.
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