Gothi 350900 213541369 2008-05-19T20:10:40Z Pigman 285310 clean up using [[Project:AutoWikiBrowser|AWB]] [[Image:Offering by Lund.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A depiction of a goði leading the people in sacrificing to an idol of Thor in this painting by [[J.L. Lund]].]]{{Heathenism portal}} A '''goði''' or '''gothi''' (plural '''goðar''') is the [[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] term for a [[priest]] and [[tribal chief|chieftain]]. '''Gyðja''' signifies a priestess. The name appears in [[Wulfila]]'s [[Gothic language]] [[Codex Argenteus|translation of the bible]] as ''gudja'' for "priest", but in Old Norse it is only the feminine form ''gyðja'' that perfectly corresponds to the Gothic form.<ref name="gothi">[http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/png/oi_cleasbyvigfusson/b0208.png ''An Icelandic-English dictionary'' by Richard Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson (1874) p. 208.]</ref> The corresponding masculine Old Norse form would have been an unattested *''gyði''.<ref name="gothi"/> In Scandinavia there are surviving early attestations in the [[Proto-Norse]] form ''gudija'' from the Norwegian Nordhuglo runestone,<ref name="gotiska">The article ''gotiska'' in ''[[Nationalencyklopedin]]'' (1992)</ref> and in the later Old Norse form ''goði'' from two Danish runestones, the [[Glavendrup stone]] (DR 209) and the Helnæs Runestone (DR 190).<ref name="gothi"/> Otherwise, there are no further surviving attestations except from Iceland where the ''goðar'' would be of historical significance. The goðar are depicted in the [[Norse saga|Sagas]] as the religious and political leaders of their district or ''goðorð''. In [[Iceland]], prior to [[Christianization]], religious temples or ''hofs'' were privately owned and maintained by a ''hofgoði'' or ''temple priest''. They were also an important part of the Icelandic political system for a long time after the arrival of Christianity. The term goði is often used as a priestly title by modern adherents of various denominations of [[Germanic Neopaganism]], especially in [[Ásatrú]]. A '''goðorð''' or '''godord''' refers to a domain or an area of influence controlled by an [[Iceland]]ic medieval chieftain, or ''[[gothi|goði]]''. <br/> ==Notes== <references/> ==References== *Byock, Jesse L. (1993). ''Goði''. Entry in ''Medieval Scandinavia, an Encyclopedia'' (Phillip Pulsiano, ed.), 230-231. Garland: NY and London, ISBN 0-8240-4787-7. *Jón Hnefill Aðalsteinsson (1998). ''Blót'' and ''Þing'': The Function of the Tenth-Century ''Goði'', in ''A Piece of Horse Liver: Myth, Ritual and Folklore in Old Icelandic Sources'', 35-56. Reykjavik, ISBN 9979-54-264-0. ==See also== * [[Icelandic commonwealth]] * [[Guðrún Kristín Magnúsdóttir]] - a modern day goði * [[Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson]] * [[Althing]] * [[Blót]] * [[Norse paganism]] * [[Ásatrú]] * [[Trollkyrka]] {{wiktionary|goði}} [[Category:Germanic paganism]] [[Category:Germanic neopaganism]] [[Category:Ásatrú]] [[Category:Magical terms in Germanic mysticism]] {{paganism-stub}} [[da:Gode (præst)]] [[de:Godentum]] [[et:Goodi]] [[es:Goði]] [[fr:Godi]] [[new:गोथी]] [[no:Gode]] [[sv:Gode]]