On Nerthus and Njordr
I’ve been thinking about Njordr and Nerthus. Even though literary references to them are about a thousand years apart they are connected in at least three ways: etymologically, ethnologically, and cultically. Etymologically, their names are the masculine and feminine versions of the same name. Although the meaning is obscure, many scholars conclude that the root word of both names means “strength”. Ethnologically, both Njordr and Nerthus belong to the Germanic people. However, Rudolf Simek in his Dictionary of Norse Mythology says that Njordr is probably a relic from the pre-Germanic Megalithic seafaring culture of northern Europe. The same could be true of Nerthus. Cultically, scholars agree that Njordr and Nerthus are fertility deities. Most are comfortable including Nerthus among the Vanir.
Snorri wrote the following about Njordr in his Edda:
“The third asa is he who is called Njord. He dwells in Noatun, which is in heaven. He rules the course of the wind and checks the fury of the sea and of fire. He is invoked by seafarers and by fishermen. He is so rich and wealthy that he can give broad lands and abundance to those who call on him for them. He was fostered in Vanaheim, but the vans gave him as a hostage to the gods, and received in his stead as an asa-hostage the god whose name is Honer. He established peace between the gods and vans. Njord took to wife Skade, a daughter of the giant Thjasse. She wished to live where her father had dwelt, that is, on the mountains in Thrymheim; Njord, on the other hand, preferred to be near the sea.”
Here are some of my personal reflections on what Snorri wrote:
1. That Njordr dwells in Noatun (Ship-town) in heaven could mean a number of different things depending on what “heaven” means. Heaven could mean either the sky or the Otherworld. If it means the sky, Noatun could be the name of a constellation. This would make sense if Njordr is a god of the pre-Germanic seafarers of the ancient Megalithic culture of northern Europe. Chances are that they navigated by the stars.
2. According to Snorri, Njordr rules the wind. This is interesting because many associate Njordr with the sea rather than the wind. Apparently, by ruling the wind Njordr also controls the fury of both the sea and fire. That makes sense.
3. Snorri also says that Njordr prefers to be “near the sea”. That Njordr prefers to be “near the sea” confirms that he is not a god of the sea but of the wind which rarely ceases to blow at the shore of the sea.
4. That Njordr is invoked by seafarers and those who fish also makes sense given who Njordr is. He is the god of the wind who rules the sea. Certainly the wind was and remains to this day important to both seafarers and fishers. It makes sense that they would call on him to aid and assist them in their explorations and fishing expeditions.
5. When the fishers of old caught an abundance of fish they gave thanks to Njordr. They thought of him as a god of abundance and wealth. He made their abundant catch and subsequent wealth by providing fair winds and calm waters in which to fish. Likewise, the ancient seafaring merchants thought of Njordr as providing wealth and abundance to them by providing fare winds and calm seas for sailing.
6. The more I study and reflect on mythology the more convinced I become that it often reflects historical events. I think that the myth of the exchange of hostages between the Vanir and Aesir reflects the overtaking of the pre-Germanic Megalithic tribes by the migrating Indo-Europeans. The exchange of hostages is a mythologization of how the Indo-European immigrants incorporated into their own mythology portions of the pre-existing mythology of the pre-Germanic tribes. That Njordr became a hostage of the Aesir reflects how he was incorporated into the mythology of the Indo-Europeans who came to dominate Europe.
There are unresolved questions about the relationship between Nerthus and Njordr. There are several possibilities. Their names could refer to one androgynous deity of which Tacitus only knew the feminine side. Their names could refer to a single deity who started out as a goddess and later became a god. Their names could also refer to a goddess and god pair. They could be sister and brother, wife and husband, or both. Their names could also be titles rather than names. If the root of their names means “strength”, then it is possible that their names, like Freyja and Freyr, mean Lady and Lord. It could then be possible that the myths about Njordr and his unnamed sister being Freyja’s and Freyr’s parents reflect a memory of when Freyja and Freyr, the goddess and god, were called Nerthus (Female Strength) and Njordr (Male Strength).
I feel confident that Nerthus and Njordr are two separate beings. Nerthus, whom Tacitus calls Mother Earth, is associated with the earth rather than the wind. However, like Njordr, Nerthus is associated with the living near the sea. Her sacred place was on an island, most likely in the Baltic Sea.
If the people of the Pre-Germanic Megalithic tribes called the masculine energy of the wind Njordr and the feminine energy of the earth Nerthus, then unlike Njordr and Skadi, Nerthus and Njordr could have lived happily by the sea and brought to their people abundance and wealth from both the ocean and the good rich soil of the earth as well as much pleasure and peace.