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In Germanic paganism, Nerthus is a goddess associated with fertility. Nerthus is attested by first century AD Roman historian Tacitus in his ethnographic work Germania.

In Germania, Tacitus records that the remote Suebi tribes were united by their veneration of the goddess at his time of writing and maintained a sacred grove on an (unspecified) island and that a holy cart rests there draped with cloth, which only a priest may touch. The priests feel her presence by the cart, and, with deep reverence, attend her cart, which is drawn by heifers. Everywhere the goddess then deigns to visit, she is met with celebration, hospitality, and peace. All iron objects are locked away, and no one will leave for war. When the goddess has had her fill she is returned to her temple by the priests. Tacitus adds that the goddess, the cart, and the cloth are then washed by slaves in a secluded lake. The slaves are then drowned.

The name Nerthus is generally held to be a Latinized form of Proto-Germanic *Nerþuz, a direct precursor to the Old Norse deity name Njörðr, a male deity attested much later among the North Germanic peoples. Scholars have proposed a variety of connections between Njörðr and Nerthus, particularly arround the Njörðr's children Freyja and Freyr, and the unnamed sister-wife of Njörðr mentioned in two Old Norse sources.

Name
Scholars gnenerally identify the goddess Nerthus with the god Njörðr who is attested in Old Norse texts and in numerous Scandinavian place names. Scholars generally identify the Romano-Germanic Nerthus as the linguistic precursor to the Old Norse deity name Njörðr and have reconstructed the form as Proto-Germanic *Nerþuz Beyond this, the etymology of the theonym is unclear.

Germania
In chapter 40 of his Germania, Roman historian Tacitus, discussing the Suebian tribes of Germania, writes that beside the populous Semnones and warlike Langobardi there are seven more remote Suebian tribes; the Reudigni, Aviones, Anglii, Varini, Eudoses, Suarines, and Nuitones. The seven tribes are surrounded by rivers and forests and, according to Tacitus, there is nothing particularly worthy of comment about them as individuals, yet they are particularly distinguished in that they all worship the goddess Nerthus, and provides an account of veneration of the goddess among the groups. The chapter reads as follows:

Receiption and interpretation
A number of theories have been proposed regarding the figure of Nerthus, including the location of the events described, relations to other known deities and her role amongst the Germanic peoples.

Name and manuscript variations
All surviving manuscripts of Tacitus's Germania date from around the fifteenth century. Outside of the theonym, Nerthum (yielding the nominative form Nerthus), Herthum (implying a nominative form of Hertha) and several others (including Nechtum, Neithum, Neherthum, and Verthum). Of the various forms found in the extant Germania manuscript tradition, two have yielded significant discussion among scholars since at least the 19th century, Nerthus and Hertha. Hertha was popular in some of the earliest layers of Germania scholarship, such as the edition of Beatus Rhenanus, who link the name with a common German word for Earth (compare modern German Erde), but has subsequently been rejected by most scholars.

Since pioneering 19th century philologist Jacob Grimm's identification of the form Nerthus as the etymological precursor to the Old Norse deity name Njǫrðr, the theonym Nerthus has subsequently been widely accepted in scholarship.

Additionally, in 1902, the Codex Aesinas (often abbreviated as E) was discovered, and it too was found to contain the form Nertum. The Codex Aesinas is a 15th century composite manuscript that is considered a direct copy of the Codex Hersfeldensis, the oldest identifiable manuscript of the text. All other manuscripts of Tacitus's Germania are thought by scholars to stem from the Codex Aesinas.

Acceptance of this identification among scholars is however not universal. For example, in a 1992 article, Lotte Motz proposes that, "the variant nertum was chosen by Grimm because it corresponds to Njǫrðr" and proposes that the linguistic correspondence is a coincidence. Instead, Motz propose that various female entities from the continental Germanic folklore record, particularly those in central Germany and the Alps, stem from a single source who she identifies as Nerthus, and that migrating coastal Germanic peoples brought the goddess to those regions from coastal Scandinavia.

Location
By way of the the form Nerthus, a number of scholars have proposed a potential location of Tacitus's account of Nerthus at Niartharum (modern Nærum) located on the island of Zealand in Denmark. Further justification is given in that Lejre, the seat of the ancient kings of Denmark, is also located on Zealand. Nerthus is then commonly compared to the goddess Gefjon, who is said to have plowed the island of Zealand from Sweden in the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning and in Lejre wed the legendary Danish king Skjöldr.

The Vanir and wagon processions
Nerthus is commonly identified as a Vanir goddess. Her wagon tour has been likened to several archeological wagon finds and legends of deities parading in wagons. Terry Gunnell and many others have noted various archaeological finds of ritual wagons in Denmark dating from 200 AD and the Bronze Age. Such a ceremonial wagon, incapable of making turns, was discovered in the Oseberg ship find. Two of the most famous literary examples occur in the Icelandic family sagas. The Vanir god Freyr is said to ride in a wagon annually through the country accompanied by a priestess to bless the fields, according to a late story titled Hauks þáttr hábrókar in the 14th century Flateyjarbók manuscript. In the same source, King Eric of Sweden is said to consult a god named Lýtir, whose wagon was brought to his hall in order to perform a divination ceremony.

Hilda Davidson draws a parallel between these incidents and Tacitus's account of Nerthus, suggesting that in addition a neck-ring-wearing female figure "kneeling as if to drive a chariot" also dates from the Bronze Age. Davidson says that the evidence suggests that similar customs as detailed in Tacitus's account continued to exist during the close of the pagan period through worship of the Vanir.

Modern influence
The minor planet 601 Nerthus is named after Nerthus. The form "Hertha" was adopted by several German football clubs.