Njörðr

(gen. Njarðar, dat. Nirði), m. Njord, one of the old Northern gods.

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m., gen. Njarðar, dat. Nirði, [cp. Nerthus, the goddess in Tacit. Germ. ch. 40; a similar worship is in the Northern account, Fms. ii. 73–78, attributed to Njord’s son Frey]:—Njorð, one of the old Northern gods, father of Frey and Freyja; about whom see Vþm. 38, 39, Gm. 16, Ls. 33, 34, Edda passim: Njord was the god of riches and traffic, hence the phrase, auðigr sem Njörðr, wealthy as Njord, a Croesus, Fs. 80. The name remains in Njarðar-vöttr, m. Njord’s glove, i. e. a sponge, Matth. xxvii. 48, freq. in mod. usage, and that it was so in olden times is seen from the words, þessa figúru köllum vér Njarðar-vött í skáldskap, this figure (a kind of antonomasia) we call Njord’s glove, Skálda 196: in local names, Njarð-vík, in eastern Icel., q. v.; Njarðar-lög and Njarð-ey, in Norway; cp. also njarð-láss, njarð-gjörð. In old Icel. translations of classical legends Njord is taken to represent Saturn, Bret., Clem. S. passim.