Tacitus calls the goddess Jord Nerthus. Vigfusson (and before him J. Grimm) and others have seen in this name a feminine version of Njördr. Nor does any other explanation seem possible. The existence of such a form is not more surprising than that we have in Freyja a feminine form of Frey, and in Fjorgyn-Frigg a feminine form of Fjörgynr. In our mythic documents neither Frigg nor Njord are of Asa race. Njord is, as we know, a Van. Frigg's father is Fjörgynr (perhaps the same as Parganya in the Vedic songs), also called Annarr, Ánarr, and Ónarr, and her mother is Narve's daughter Night. Frigg's high position as Odin's real and lawful wife, as the queen of the Asa world, and as mother of the chief gods Thor and Balder, presupposes her to be of the noblest birth which the myth could bestow on a being born outside of the Asa clan, and as the Vans come next after the Asas in the mythology, and were united with them from the beginning of time, as hostages, by treaty, by marriage, and by adoption, probability, if no other proof could be found, would favour the theory that Frigg is a goddess of the race of Vans, and that her father Fjörgyn is a clan-chief among the Vans. This view is corroborated in two ways. The cosmogony makes Earth and Sea sister and brother. The same divine mother Night (Nat), who bears the goddess Jord, also bears a son Udr, Unnr, the ruler of the sea, also called Audr (Rich), the personification of wealth. Both these names are applied among the gods to Njord alone as the god of navigation, commerce, and wealth. (In reference to wealth compare the phrase audigr sem Njördr—rich as Njord.) Thus Frigg is Njord's sister. This explains the attitude given to Frigg in the war between the Asas and Vans by Völuspa, Saxo, and the author of Ynglingasaga, where the tradition is related as history. In the form given to this tradition in Christian times and in Saxo's hands, it is disparaging to Frigg as Odin's wife; but the pith of Saxo's narrative is, that Frigg in the feud between the Asas and Vans did not side with Odin but with the Vans, and contributed towards making the latter lords of Asgard. When the purely heathen documents (Völusp., Vafthr., Lokas.) describe her as a tender wife and mother, Frigg's taking part with the Vans against her own husband can scarcely be explained otherwise than by the Teutonic principle, that the duties of the daughter and sister are above the wife's, a view plainly presented in Saxo (p. 353), and illustrated by Gudrun's conduct toward Atle.
Thus it is proved that the god who is the father of the Teutonic patriarch Mannus is himself the son of Frigg, the goddess of earth, and must, according to the mythic records at hand, be either Thor or Balder. The name given him by Tacitus, Tuisco, does not determine which of the two. Tuisco has the form of a patronymic adjective, and reappears in the Norse Tívi, an old name of Odin, related to Dios divus, and devas, from which all the sons of Odin and gods of Asgard received the epithet tívar. But in the songs learned by Saxo in regard to the northern race-patriarch and his divine father, his place is occupied by Thor, not by Balder, and "Jord's son" is in Norse poetry an epithet particularly applied to Thor.
Mannus has three sons. So has Halfdan. While Mannus has a son Ingævo, Halfdan has a stepson Yngve, Inge (Svipdag). The second son of Mannus is named Hermio. Halfdan's son with Groa is called Gudhormr. The second part of this name has, as Jessen has already pointed out, nothing to do with ormr. It may be that the name should be divided Gudhormr, and that hormr should be referred to Hermio. Mannus' third son is Istævo. The Celtic scholar Zeuss has connected this name with that of the Gothic (more properly Vandal) heroic race Azdingi, and Grimm has again connected Azdigni with Hazdiggo (Haddingr). Halfdan's third son is in Saxo called Hadingus. Whether the comparisons made by Zeuss and Grimm are to the point or not (see further, No. 43) makes but little difference here. It nevertheless remains as a result of the investigation that all is related by Tacitus about the Teutonic patriarch Mannus has its counterpart in the question concerning Halfdan, and that both in the myths occupy precisely the same place as sons of a god and as founders of Teutonic tribes and royal families. The pedigrees are:
Tacitus. Norse documents.
Tivi and the goddess Jord. Tivi=Odin and the goddess
| Jord.
| |
Tivi's son (Tiusco). Tivi's son Thor.
| |
Mannus, progenitor of the Halfdan, progenitor of the
Teutonic tribes. royal families.
+————+————+ +————-+————-+
| | | | | |
Ingævo. Hermio. Istævo. Yngve. Gudhormr. Hadding.
26.
THE SACRED RUNES LEARNED FROM HEIMDAL.
The mythic ancient history of the human race and of the Teutons may, in accordance with the analysis above given, be divided into the following epochs:—(1) From Ask and Ernbla's creation until Heimdal's arrival; (2) from Heimdal's arrival until his departure; (3) the age of Skjold-Borgar; (4) Halfdan's time; (5) The time of Halfdan's sons.
And now we will discuss the events of the last three epochs.
In the days of Borgar the moral condition of men grows worse, and an event in nature takes place threatening at least the northern part of the Teutonic world with destruction. The myth gives the causes of both these phenomena.
The moral degradation has its cause, if not wholly, yet for the greater part, in the activity among men of a female being from the giant world. Through her men become acquainted with the black art, the evil art of sorcery, which is the opposite of the wisdom drawn from Mimer's holy fountain, the knowledge of runes, and acquaintance with the application of nature's secret forces for good ends (see Nos. 34, 35).