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.

Contents

[edit] Etymology

Etymological links have long been made between Nerthus and Njörðr. Njörðr is commonly viewed as a masculine counterpart to Nerthus.[1] Jacob Grimm wrote, “I should prefer Nertus to Nerthus, because no other German words in Tacitus have TH, except Gothini and Vuithones.” He rejected the reading Herthus, “though the aspirate in herda might seem to plead for it, the termination –us is against it.” On the other hand, Edgar Polomé argued that Njörðr and Nerthus come from different roots,[2] adding, "Nerthus and Njörðr are two separate divine entities, whatever similarity their names show." [3] Lotte Motz proposed that the Germanic goddess described by Tacitus may not have been called Nerthus at all. She argued that the name was selected by Grimm from several manuscript variants because it bore an etymological resemblance to Njörðr.[4]

Notwithstanding the arguments of Motz and Polomé, many modern scholars continue to accept Grimm's derivation. John McKinnell represents this view:

“The usually accepted stemma has three families, and readings shared by the best manuscripts of any two of them are thought likely to be correct. The best X group manuscripts (Vatican, Cod. Vat. 1862, Leiden UL XVIII Periz.Q.21) read Neithum; the best y manuscripts (Cod. Vat. 1518, Codex Neapolitanus) have Nerthum, and the best Z manuscript (Iesi, Æsinas Lat. 8) reads Nertum. The sound /th/ did not exist in classical Latin, though the spelling is found in words derived from Greek or the Germanic languages (such as thesaurus 'treasure', or the name Theodoricus). Tacitus would therefore be unlikely to introduce the spelling th gratuitously. In the fifteenth century, the Italian scribes who produced most of the earliest surviving manuscripts (including the Iesi manuscript) would have a natural tendency to replace th with t, as was consistently done in their native language (see Italian tesoro, Teodorico), but would be very unlikely to do the reverse. Nerthum is therefore more probably correct than Nertum. If both Y and Z should read Nerthum, that reading must be preferred. A different stemma, proposed by Robinson, has only two groups, and the best manuscripts in both read Nerthum. Whichever stemma is correct, Nerthum therefore seems the likeliest reading, although it could represent either a grammatically masculine Nerthus or a grammatically neuter Nerthum.”[5]

[edit] Tacitus' account

Tacitus records a processional ritual devoted to this goddess enacted by the northern Germanic tribes:

After the Langobardi come the Reudigni, Auiones, Angli, Varni, Eudoses, Suarines and Nuithones, all well guarded by rivers and forests.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8]

Although some scholars have pointed out possible foreign models for Tacitus’ account of the Nerthus cult, it is more probable that he based his account on native Scandinavian tradition. [9] Tacitus provides the first detailed account of a heathen ritual recorded in the Germanic territories. Serious scholars scarcely neglect it when discussing Germanic pagan beliefs and practices.[10]

[edit] 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. Evidence of the veneration of a mother goddess, representing the earth, survived among the Angles (Tacitus' Anglii) into Christian times as evidenced in the processional Æcerbót ritual.[11] Similarly, the Lonbards (Tacitus' Longobardi) are said to venerate Odin's wife, Frea, in their first chronicle. [12] The kenning "Odin's wife" is a well-known paraphrase for the earth in Icelandic poetry of the Middle Ages.

[edit] Location

A number of scholars have proposed a potential location of Tacitus' account of Nerthus as on the island of Zealand in Denmark.[13][14] 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.

[edit] 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.[13]

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 24. 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.

[edit] 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.[14]

[edit] Wagon

The wagon of Nerthus has been likened to several other legends of wagons. In one story, the major Vanir god Freyr is named in connection with a wagon that customarily traveled about the land in his name to bless the fields, according to 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, Hilda Davidson and Terry Gunnell, among many others, have noted 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 detailed in Tacitus' account continued to exist during the close of the pagan period through worship of the Vanir and Freyr.[13]

[edit] War of the Gods

The Æsir were described as having fought with the Vanir in the War of the gods, which has sometimes been 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.[citation needed]

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.

[edit] Epyonyms

[edit] References

  1. ^ Grimm, Jacob, Teutonic Mythology, trans. James Stallybrass. London: George Bell (1882-1888), et al.
  2. ^ Polomé, Edgar. Nerthus/Njorðr and Georges Dumézil Mankind Quarterly 40:2 (1999), p. 149.
  3. ^ Ibid.
  4. ^ Motz, Lotte. The Goddess Nerthus: A New Approach Amsterdamer Beiträge zur Älteren Germanistik 36 (1992), 1-18.
  5. ^ McKinnell, John. Meeting the Other in Norse Myth and Legend, DS Brewer, 2005.
  6. ^ According to Grimm, Tacitus wrote: "Rendingi, Aviones, Anglii, Varini, Eudoses, Suarines, and Nuithones"
  7. ^ Reudigni deinde et Aviones et Anglii et Varini et Eudoses et Suardones et Nuithones fluminibus aut silvis muniuntur. Nec quicquam notabile in singulis, nisi quod in commune Nerthum, id est Terram matrem, colunt eamque intervenire rebus hominum, invehi populis arbitrantur. (Tacitus, Germania, 1.40).
  8. ^ Tacitus, Germania, translation from The Lost Gods of England, by Brian Branston (Thames and Hudson, London, 1957).
  9. ^ E. O. G. Turville-Petre, ‘Fertility of Beast and Soil’ in Old Norse Literature and Mythology: A Synposium, ed. Edgar Polemé, (University of Texas Press, 1969)
  10. ^ Rory McTurk, A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture, edited by (Blackwell Publishing, 2005), ch. 17.
  11. ^ Davidson, Hilda Ellis. Roles of the Northern Goddess, Routledge, 1998.
  12. ^ Paul the Deacon, History of the Lombards. Translated and Edited by William Dudley Foulke.
  13. ^ a b c Davidson, Hilda R. Ellis. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe (1964) ISBN 0140136274
  14. ^ a b Chadwick, Hector Munro The Origin of the English Nation (1907) ISBN 0941694097

[edit] External links

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