Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Mythological Figures: Thor Odinson (5E)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 7750294" data-attributes="member: 58172"><p>Modern ‘Germanic neopagans’ have invented the term goði/gyðja for their own modern priests. But this neologism appears absent from historical Norse folkbelief.</p><p></p><p>This modern neopagan wish to believe that their religion was ‘always’ that way, appears to be the source of some disinformation about Norse folkbelief.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>For the same reason there are no priests, there are also no priestesses.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>In Old Norse texts, <strong>gyðja</strong> is the feminine form of goð. (Linguistically, the performance of the o-vowel appears to palatize into a y-vowel while assimilating into -ðj.)</p><p></p><p>The compound nouns blótgyðja and hofgyðja are of interest because they refer to customs that a person performs in ones own home, namely sharing food with a nature spirit who is an honored guest (blót), and setting a shrine for one. In these compound nouns, the female goð is the recipient.</p><p></p><p>Snorris Edda uses the terms gyðja and gyðjur, exclusively mean female goð. It never means ‘priestess’.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>When translating certain Norse texts (Ynglingasaga) some earlier translators have rendered gyðja erroneously into English as ‘priestess’. These contexts are euhemeristic accounts of goð, such as portraying Óðinn as a quasi-historical human mage. Likewise, the references to gyðjur are female goð. (No priestesses.) For example, the euhemerized Freyr and Njǫrðr are a declared <strong>blót-goð</strong>, meaning a spirit who receives food offerings, and likewise Freyja becomes a <strong>blót-gyðja</strong>, of same meaning, a female spirit who receives food offerings. Here the terms goð and gyðja can only refer to the nature spirits themselves.</p><p></p><p>Similarly, euhemerized Óðinn (a goð) gets too weak after performing seiðr, so he has mainly ‘gyðjur’ (female goð) do it.</p><p></p><p>The terms goð and gyðja only mean nature spirits here. There are no priests or priestesses in these contexts.</p><p></p><p>There are neither priests nor priestesses in indigenous Norse animistic culture.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Modern Germanic neopagans today use the terms goði/gyðja as a title for their modern ‘priest/priestess’. However this neologism has no existence in historical Norse folkbelief.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Yaarel, post: 7750294, member: 58172"] Modern ‘Germanic neopagans’ have invented the term goði/gyðja for their own modern priests. But this neologism appears absent from historical Norse folkbelief. This modern neopagan wish to believe that their religion was ‘always’ that way, appears to be the source of some disinformation about Norse folkbelief. For the same reason there are no priests, there are also no priestesses. In Old Norse texts, [B]gyðja[/B] is the feminine form of goð. (Linguistically, the performance of the o-vowel appears to palatize into a y-vowel while assimilating into -ðj.) The compound nouns blótgyðja and hofgyðja are of interest because they refer to customs that a person performs in ones own home, namely sharing food with a nature spirit who is an honored guest (blót), and setting a shrine for one. In these compound nouns, the female goð is the recipient. Snorris Edda uses the terms gyðja and gyðjur, exclusively mean female goð. It never means ‘priestess’. When translating certain Norse texts (Ynglingasaga) some earlier translators have rendered gyðja erroneously into English as ‘priestess’. These contexts are euhemeristic accounts of goð, such as portraying Óðinn as a quasi-historical human mage. Likewise, the references to gyðjur are female goð. (No priestesses.) For example, the euhemerized Freyr and Njǫrðr are a declared [B]blót-goð[/B], meaning a spirit who receives food offerings, and likewise Freyja becomes a [B]blót-gyðja[/B], of same meaning, a female spirit who receives food offerings. Here the terms goð and gyðja can only refer to the nature spirits themselves. Similarly, euhemerized Óðinn (a goð) gets too weak after performing seiðr, so he has mainly ‘gyðjur’ (female goð) do it. The terms goð and gyðja only mean nature spirits here. There are no priests or priestesses in these contexts. There are neither priests nor priestesses in indigenous Norse animistic culture. Modern Germanic neopagans today use the terms goði/gyðja as a title for their modern ‘priest/priestess’. However this neologism has no existence in historical Norse folkbelief. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Mythological Figures: Thor Odinson (5E)
Top