Herja

"The Ride of the Valkyrs" (1909) by John Charles Dollman.

In Norse mythology, Herja (Old Norse) is a valkyrie attested in the longer of the two Nafnaþulur lists found in the Prose Edda.^[1]

Rudolf Simek says the name is etymologically related to the Old Norse herja and Old High German herjón (meaning "devastate"), and derives from Proto-Germanic word *Herjaza. Simek notes that the Continental Germanic goddess name Hariasa (attested from a now lost 2nd century stone found in Cologne, Germany) also derives from *Herjaza, but says that "it is almost impossible to say whether Herja was an original name of a goddess including among the North Germanic peoples," and that "an independent development is equally likely in the case of a 'goddess of war'."^[2]

Notes

1. Jónsson (1973:678).
2. Simek (2007:143). For Hariasa, Simek (2007:131).

References

• Jónsson, Finnur (1973). Den Norsk-Islandske Skjaldedigtning. Rosenkilde og Bagger.
• Simek, Rudolf (2008). Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Ds Brewer. ISBN 978-0-85991-513-7.