by Týsköll » Thu Mar 30, 2023 3:14 am
In Germanic paganism, Nerthus is a goddess associated with a ceremonial wagon procession.
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 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 heifers. 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.
The goddess name Nerthus (from Proto-Germanic *Nerþuz) is the early Germanic etymological precursor to the Old Norse deity name Njörðr, a male deity who is comparably associated with wagons and water in Norse mythology.
...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.
...potential etymological connections to the obscure female deity name Njörun, mention of the mysterious Sister-wife of Njörðr.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerthus
"*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)".[4] 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 ‘paradise’ (literally ‘field of contentment’), or to the word ‘north’ (i.e. ‘deity of the northern people’, cf. Greek νέρτερος ‘belonging to the underworld’)."
In Germanic paganism, Nerthus is a goddess associated with a ceremonial wagon procession.
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 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 heifers. 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.
The goddess name Nerthus (from Proto-Germanic *Nerþuz) is the early Germanic etymological precursor to the Old Norse deity name Njörðr, a male deity who is comparably associated with wagons and water in Norse mythology.
...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.
...potential etymological connections to the obscure female deity name Njörun, mention of the mysterious Sister-wife of Njörðr.
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerthus[/url]
"*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)".[4] 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 ‘paradise’ (literally ‘field of contentment’), or to the word ‘north’ (i.e. ‘deity of the northern people’, cf. Greek νέρτερος ‘belonging to the underworld’)."
