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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 7750294" data-attributes="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, gyðja 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 blót-goð, meaning a spirit who receives food offerings, and likewise Freyja becomes a blót-gyðja, 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.</blockquote>

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