Iord (or Jord) is the Norse personification of earth. “Jord” is also the Swedish word for “earth,” which is pretty cool. In terms of god relationships, Iord is a consort of Odin, mother of Thor, and daughter of Night.
Interestingly, Night is the daughter of the giant Narfi, which would mean Iord is of giant descent. I’m not sure if that’s significant or not, as my grasp of Norse mythology is sadly lacking. Iord’s father was someone called Annar, though I can’t find who he was other than being listed in a long line of fathers and sons.
It’s mentioned that perhaps Snorri Sturluson intended “Annar” as a variation of “Odin” due to the following passage regarding Odin: “The earth was his daughter and his wife. Out of her he begot the first of his sons, that is Asa-Thor.” (Sturluson, p. 13). The index found in the Edda however, only makes mention of “Annar” having the literal meaning of “second,” as he was Night’s second husband.
It’s all very interesting, and makes me think that maybe Odin isn’t called the All-father for nothing.
Source: Sturluson, Snorri, Edda, Everyman, 1995. Translated and edited by Anthony Faulkes.
Supernatural AtoZ
Odin, Zeus, Yahweh…
All seem to get around. It’s OK for the Gods to be sluts, but not us humans. Such a double standard.
Not entirely sure I agree. I mean, back when this was an observed religion, I don’t think it would have been frowned upon if a man were philandering about. Women sleeping around, however, was probably a different story, so, yeah, double standard there.
Norse mythology is worse than Egyptian or Greek for trying to sort out who’s related to who and why :). I hadn’t heard of Iord. Odin sounds like Zeus in that he gets around ::g::.
Tasha
Tasha’s Thinkings – AtoZ (Vampires)
FB3X – AtoZ (Erotic Drabbles)
A god among gods has to keep up appearances, after all. 😉
My Norse mythology is very weak compared to Greek and Celtic. I need to make an effort to read more.
Same here, Timothy. The most I know about Norse mythology I learned while writing posts for this challenge.
I was familiar with some Norse mythology thanks to working with runes, but I really don’t know enough, except that is, like all mythology, complex and worthy of proper study. I hadn’t heard of Iord.
Thanks for sharing,
Sophie
Sophie’s Thoughts & Fumbles – A to Z Ghosts
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You’re welcome. 🙂
that was interesting. maybe it’s a version in reincarnation or just creep-tastic like zeus. meh, who knows. gods aren’t mortal so they can get jiggy with whoever they want.
still, it’s icky.
i think the egyptians took it a little too far with the royal families because they thought they were gods too. **shudder!**
Yeah, definitely icky. No argument there.
Giants mix with the Aesir and the Vanir quite often in Norse mythology. Odin and his family has a thing for large women, apparently. Interesting thought, though, wonder what more research would turn up. I always saw the giants as forces of nature.
@TarkabarkaHolgy from
Multicolored Diary – Tales of colors
MopDog – The crazy thing about Hungarians…
Thanks for the insight. Giants as a force of nature kind of makes sense, as Night (the daughter of a giant) is definitely such, as is Iord. Great comment. 🙂
I’m just starting to get into Norse mythology, so this is very interesting. Off topic a bit, but there’s a New Zealand show called The Almighty Johnsons that’s pretty funny: It’s about a family, living in modern times, discovering they are Norse gods.
Heh, sounds interesting. 🙂