Njord

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In Norse mythology, Njord or Njordr (Old Norse Njörðr) is one of the Vanir and the god of the fertile land along the seacoast, as well as seamanship and sailing. He is the husband of Skaði and father of Yngvi-Freyr and Freyja. Their mother was, according to the Heimskringla, Njord's own sister and lover. Apparently the Vanir, unlike the Æsir, had the custom of consanguineous marriage. His sister's name may also be Njord, according to the reconstruction of the name of a Teutonic goddess that Tacitus transliterated into Latin as "Nerthus" (= Njörðr). His dwelling is said to be Noatún 'Ship-town'. Njord is also a god closely associated with fertility, as are the Vanir in general.

Njord and his children joined the Æsir as Vanir hostages after the Æsir/Vanir war. Such hostages are considered part of the family of the aristocracy and rightful leaders, but are not free to leave so as to secure the mutual interests of the peace treaty.

Njördr is the Old Norse equivalent of the goddess Nerthus described by Tacitus. It has been suggested (H. R. Ellis Davidson, Gods and Myths of Northern Europe, 1964) that there was possibly originally a male and female pair of deities, Njord and Nerthus, with Freyja later replacing Nerthus. She also makes the point that there were other male/female pairings of Norse gods of whom little is known but their names, e.g. Ullr and *Ullin.

The comparative mythologist Georges Dumézil developed the idea introduced by Jacob Grimm that the hero Hadingus in Saxo Grammaticus' Danish History, Book I, might be an euhemerized version of Njord. This suggestion was used by science-fiction/fantasy writer Poul Anderson in his War of the Gods.

In Viktor Rydberg's idiosyncratic reconstruction of Norse mythology Njord was also known as Fridleif, the Lover of Frith (peace). With Hodur, he undertook a mission of peace to Weland and Egil, which they refused. He rescued his son Freyr from the giants later on. During the war between Æsir and Vanir, he led the attack on Asgard and won. While he was gone from Vanaheim, Loki tried to take over there, but Njord defeated him in battle and routed him.

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How Njord met Skadi

According to Rydberg, The Æsir regretfully killed Skadi's father, Weland-Thjazi, who had inflicted the Ice Age on the world. She put on her skis and skied all the way to Valhalla. The gods agreed that they would have to repay her in some way. She would be able to choose any of the males as her husband, but she was only allowed to look at the feet as she chose. She looked long at all of the feet, and she chose the cleanest pair, thinking that it must belong to Baldur. It wasn't Baldur, however, but Njord, whose feet were washed clean by the sea. Although they loved each other very much, their marriage wasn't the best. Skadi lived in a land of winter, but Njord didn't like being awakened all the time by the wolves, and he could hardly sleep anyway because it was so cold. Skadi couldn't take living in a spring forest, being awakened early by the birds. And she thought it was a little too warm. But they decided to live a week at each place, and it worked well for them.

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Name

Njörðr's name is written Njǫrðr in standardized Old Norse spelling but the 'ǫ' is often replaced with 'ö' for familiarity or technical expediency. It can be represented or Anglicized in many ways including Njord, Njordr, Niord, Niordr, Njörd and Njördr.

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External links

Njo̹rđr BookRags article

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