Who is the sister-wife of Njörðr in Norse mythology?
The sister-wife of Njörðr is an unnamed goddess in Norse mythology who was Njörðr's twin sister and first wife. Together they were the parents of Freyr and Freyja, according to the 13th-century sources Ynglinga saga and the Eddic poem Lokasenna.
What Old Norse texts mention the sister-wife of Njörðr?
She appears in two 13th-century sources: the Eddic poem Lokasenna and the Ynglinga saga, composed by Snorri Sturluson. She receives no further mention in any other Old Norse texts.
Why did Njörðr marry his sister according to Norse myth?
Snorri Sturluson's Ynglinga saga explains that Njörðr married his sister because sibling marriage was the custom among the Vanir. This practice was particular to Vanaheimr and is presented as a Vanir social norm rather than an aberration.
What is the connection between the sister-wife of Njörðr and the goddess Nerthus?
The name Nerthus, used by Tacitus in his first-century work Germania for a female earth goddess, is etymologically ancestral to the Old Norse name Njörðr. Scholars have interpreted this to mean that Nerthus and Njörðr were originally a married divine twin pair, with the sister-wife of Njörðr being a surviving trace of that earlier female deity.
What is the name Njörun and how does it relate to Njörðr's sister-wife?
Njörun is an obscure goddess name that appears in skaldic kennings and in the Nafnaþulur appended to the Prose Edda. Some scholars have proposed that Njörun may be a surviving name for the otherwise unnamed sister-wife of Njörðr, based on the pattern of Norse divine pairs sharing differentiated but cognate names.
Do Norse sources agree on when Freyr and Freyja were born in relation to Njörðr's sister-wife?
No, the sources contradict each other. Ynglinga saga and Lokasenna place the birth before Njörðr left Vanaheimr, making the sister-wife their mother. Gylfaginning and the poem Skírnismál place the birth after Njörðr joined the Æsir and married Skaði, attributing parentage to that later union instead.