Jǫrð (Jord)

Jǫrð(Jord)
A statue depicting Jörð as a matriarchal figure.
General Information
Titles	Earth goddess
Relationships
Parents	Annarr and Nótt
Siblings	Dagr and Audr
Consorts	Óðinn
Children	Þórr & Meili
Languages
Dǫnsk tunga(Old Norse)	Jǫrð
English	Earth
Proto-Germanic	*erþō
Ænglisċ(Old English)	eorþe

Jǫrð (Old Norse "earth") is the personification of the earth in Norse mythology. She is the mother of the thunder god Þórr, and the consort of Óðinn. Some scholars refer to Jörð as a goddess.

Her name appears both as a poetic term for the land and in the Þórr kenning "son of Jörð". Fjörgyn and Hlóðyn are considered to be other names for Jörð.

Etymology

Jörð is the common word for earth in Old Norse. It stems from Proto-Germanic *erþō ('earth, soil, land'), as evidenced by the Gothic airþa, Old English eorþ, Old Saxon ertha, Old High German erda, Faroese jørð. The Ancient Greek ἔρα ('earth') is possibly related.

Attestations

Gylfaginning

In Gylfaginning, the first part of the Prose Edda, Jörð is described as a member of the ásynjur, one of Óðinn's sexual partners and the mother of Þórr. She is the daughter of Annarr ('Second') and Nótt ('Night').

“	The earth was his daughter and his wife. With her he [Odin] made the first son, and that is Ása-Thor.	”
–Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning

According to scholar John Lindow, "Jörd must have been a giantess in the beginning. If so, Óðinn's marriage (or, more likely, sexual relationship outside marriage, perhaps not even a willing one on her part) to Jörd should be regarded as parallel to his other strategically minded relationships with giantesses."

Scholar Haukur Þorgeirsson points out that the four manuscripts of Gylfaginning vary in their descriptions of the family relations between Nótt, Jörð, Dagr, and Dellingr. In other words, depending on the manuscript, either Jörð or Nótt is the mother of Dagr and partner of Dellingr. Haukur details that "the oldest manuscript, U, offers a version where Jǫrð is the wife of Dellingr and the mother of Dagr while the other manuscripts, R, W and T, cast Nótt in the role of Dellingr's wife and Dagr's mother", and argues that "the version in U came about accidentally when the writer of U or its antecedent shortened a text similar to that in RWT. The results of this accident made their way into the Icelandic poetic tradition".

Skáldskaparmál

In Snorri Sturluson's Skáldskaparmál, Jörð (as the personified earth) is called "one who shares a man with Frigg", and Þórr "son of Jörð".

She is depicted as the rival of Óðinn's wife Frigg and his other giantess concubines, Rindr and Gunnlöd.

Poetic Edda

In Lokasenna, Þórr is called Jarðar burr ("son of Jörð").

In the same verse in Völuspá, he is referred to as mǫgr Hlóðyniar and Fjǫrgyniar burr (child of Hlóðyn, Fjörgyn's child). The etymologically unclear Hlóðyn must therefore have been another name of Jörð. She is usually thought to be identical with Hludana, to whom Roman votive tablets have been found on the Lower Rhine.

Family

Jǫtunn genealogy in Norse mythology

Names in Bold are Jǫtnar/Gýgr

Names in Italics are Gods/Goddesses

Ymir                                                   Þrúðgelmir                                                   Bergelmir                                                                                                                                         Bǫlþorn   Naglfari     Narfi   Dellingr       Aurgelmir       Fornjótr   Alvaldi                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Mímir                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Iði   Gangr   Þjazi                                                                     Bestla   Borr         Nótt           Dagr   Fárbauti   Laufey   Kári   Logi   Rán   Ægir   Gymir   Aurboða                                                                                                                                                                   Sister of Njǫrðr   Njǫrðr   Skaði                             Vili         Auðr             Annarr   Helblindi   Býleistr           Glǫð     Eisa and Eimyrja   Nine Maidens                                                                                                                                             Gerðr   Freyr             Vé                                     Sigyn           Loki         Angrboða   Heimdallr                                                                                                                                                                               Óðinn   Jǫrð                     Narfi   Váli         Jǫrmungandr   Hel   Fenrir   Hyrrokkin                                                                                                                 Þórr   Sif                     Svaðilfari                                                                                                                               Sleipnir                 Skǫll   Hati Hróðvitnisson               Þrúðr Frigg

Æsir genealogy in Norse mythology

Names in Bold are Æsir/Ásynjur

Names in Italics are Vanir

Rindr was a human princess

Ymir                                                 Þrúðgelmir                                         Auðumbla   Bergelmir           Fornjótr                                                           Búri   Bǫlþorn           Ægir   Rán                                               Narfi                                                                                                                               Fjǫrgynn       Borr   Bestla               Nine sisters                                               Naglfari   Nótt                 Dellingr                                                                                                                                                             Annarr                                             Frigg   Óðinn     Vili   Vé   Hǿnir   Heimdallr                                                   Auðr                                                                                                                                                   Jǫrð (Fjǫrgyn)     Dagr                                                                                                       Nepr                                                       Gríðr         Rindr                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Nanna   Baldr   Hǫðr   Hermóðr   Bragi   Iðunn   Víðarr   Váli   Skjǫldr   Gefjon   Unnamed Jǫtunn   Ullr     Sif   Thor   Járnsaxa   Týr                                                                                                                                                                                     Forseti                                                           Skjǫldungar   4 sons               Móði   Þrúðr   Magni

References

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Jord (view authors). As with Myth and Folklore Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported).