gothi
{{short description|Priest or tribal Scandinavian leader}}
{{distinguish|Goths}}
{{redirect|Goði|other uses|Godi (disambiguation)}}
Image:Offering by Lund.jpg in this painting by J. L. Lund]]
Gothi or {{lang|is|goði}} (plural {{lang|is|goðar}}, fem. {{lang|is|gyðja}}; Old Norse: {{lang|non|guþi}}) was a position of political and social prominence in the Icelandic Commonwealth. The term originally had a religious significance, referring to a pagan leader responsible for a religious structure and communal feasts, but the title is primarily known as a secular political title from medieval Iceland.
Etymology
The word derives from {{lang|is|goð}}, meaning "god".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}}. It possibly appears in Ulfilas' Gothic language translation of the Bible as {{transliteration|got|gudja}} for "priest", although the corresponding form of this in Icelandic would have been an unattested {{lang|is|*gyði}}. In Scandinavia, there is one surviving attestation in the Proto-Norse form {{lang|gmq|gudija}} from the Norwegian Nordhuglo runestone (N KJ65),The article gotiska in Nationalencyklopedin (1992){{cite Scandinavian Runic-text Database | name=N KJ65 | edition=2020 | srdb=383d5ac3-b6ba-4a6f-b2bc-2a90136d2653 | runor=d667f8da-5eb9-492e-8e0b-6769ad384c93}} and in the later Old Norse form {{lang|non|guþi}} from three Danish runestones: DR 190 Helnæs, DR 192 Flemløse 1 and DR 209 Glavendrup.Klaus Düwel (2008). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=lW3WRfV09HIC&pg=PA69 Runen als Phänomen der oberen Schichten]". Studien zu Literatur, Sprache und Geschichte in Europa. p. 69. There are a few placenames, such as {{lang|sv|Gudby}} in Södermanland, Sweden, that probably retain the name.Hellquist, Elof. (1966). Svensk etymologisk ordbok. C.W.K. Gleerups förlag, Lund. p. 308 Otherwise, there are no further surviving attestations except from Iceland where the {{lang|is|goðar}} would be of historical significance.
History
=Iceland=
The most reliable sources about the {{lang|is|goðar}} in Iceland are the Gray Goose Laws, the {{lang|non|Landnámabók}} and the {{lang|non|Sturlunga saga}}. After the settlement of Iceland, a {{lang|is|hofgoði}} was usually a wealthy and respected man in his district, for he had to maintain the communal hall or {{lang|is|hof}} in which community religious observances and feasts were held. The office over which a {{lang|is|goði}} had leadership was termed a {{lang|is|goðorð}}, a word that only appears in Icelandic sources. Initially many independent {{lang|is|goðorð}} were established, until they united under the Althing around 930. In 964, the system was fixed under a constitution that recognized 39 {{lang|is|goðorð}}. The role of the {{lang|is|goðar}} as secular leaders is shown in how the word was used synonymously with {{lang|is|höfðingi}}, meaning chieftain. Over time, and especially after 1000, when the Christian conversion occurred in Iceland, the term lost all religious connotations and came to mean liege-lord or chieftain of the Icelandic Commonwealth.[http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/png/oi_cleasbyvigfusson/b0208.png An Icelandic-English dictionary] by Richard Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson (1874) p. 208. A {{lang|is|goðorð}} could be bought, shared, traded or inherited. If a woman inherited a {{lang|is|goðorð}} she had to leave the leadership to a man. The office was in many respects treated as private property but was not counted as taxable, and is defined in the Gray Goose Laws as "power and not wealth" ({{lang|is|veldi er þat en æigi fe}}); nevertheless the {{lang|is|goðar}} are frequently portrayed in the sagas as concerned with money and expected to be paid for their services.
During the Icelandic Commonwealth, the responsibilities of a {{lang|is|goði}} or {{lang|is|goðorðsmaður}} ("{{lang|is|goðorð}} man") included the annual organization of the local assemblies {{lang|is|várþing}} in the spring and {{lang|is|leið}} in the autumn. At the national Althing, they were voting members of the {{lang|is|Lögrétta}}, the legislative section of the assembly. When quarter courts were introduced in the 960s, the {{lang|is|goðar}} became responsible for nominating judges for the Althing courts. When a court of appeals was established in the early 11th century, they also nominated judges for this court. Further, they had a few formal and informal executive roles, such as confiscating the property of outlaws. They also had a central role in the redistribution of wealth, by holding feasts, giving gifts, making loans, extending hospitality, as well as pricing and helping to distribute imported goods. The holder of the {{lang|is|goðorð}} of the descendants of Ingólfr Arnarson, the first Scandinavian to settle permanently in Iceland, had the ceremonial role of sanctifying the Althing each year, and was called the {{lang|is|allsherjargoði}} ("all-people {{lang|is|goði}}").Gunnar Karlsson, Goðamenning. Investigation of the role of the goðar (chieftains) in the Old Commonwealth period. {{ISBN|9979-3-2553-4}}. ISK 4990. (2004) The followers of a {{lang|is|goði}} were called {{lang|is|þingmenn}}. Every free landowner in possession of a certain amount of property was required to be associated with a {{lang|is|goði}}, although he was free to choose which one—a {{lang|is|goðorð}} was not a geographical unit.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} The {{lang|is|goði}} would help his {{lang|is|þingmenn}} to bring cases before the court and to enforce their rights, and the {{lang|is|þingmenn}} would in return provide the {{lang|is|goði}} with armed manpower for his feuds and carry out legal sentences.
By the 13th century, all the {{lang|is|goðorð}} were controlled by five or six families and often united under office holders who in modern studies are known as {{lang|is|storgoðar}} ("great {{lang|is|goðar}}") or {{lang|is|storhöfðingjar}} ("great chieftains"). These {{lang|is|goðar}} struggled for regional and sometimes national power, and occasionally sought to become retainers for the Norwegian king. The institution came to an end when the major {{lang|is|goðar}} pledged fealty to king Haakon IV of Norway in 1262–1264, signing the Old Covenant, and the Norwegian crown abolished the {{lang|is|goðorð}} system.
Neopaganism
In the early 1970s, the words {{lang|is|goði}}, {{lang|is|goðorð}} and {{lang|is|allsherjargoði}} were adopted by the Icelandic neopagan organization {{lang|is|Ásatrúarfélagið}}. Following this, {{lang|is|goði}}, {{lang|gmq|godi}} or {{lang|gmq|gothi}} is often used as a priestly title by modern adherents of various denominations of Germanic neopaganism.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
{{Wiktionary|goði}}
- Aðalsteinsson, Jón Hnefill (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}}.
{{Germanic pagan practices}}
Category:Medieval history of Iceland