The Cult of Freyr and Freyja - Germanic Mythology

Nehalennia‟s name is uncertain. Some scholars have sought to derive her name from
Latin necare, to kill, as well as the Anglo-Saxon or Old High German helan, to hide, thus
identifying her as a death-goddess, like Freyja who chooses half of the slain. Her
companion, the dog, widely interpreted as a symbol of death, supports this view. Some
have associated Nehalennia with Nerthus, in whom many scholars recognize a Vanir
deity. Thus, we cannot rule out the possibility that Nehalennia is an earlier designation of
the goddess Freyja, a prominent fertility goddess who is associated with the sea through
her father Njörd and her epithet Mardöll (Sea-shimmer), as well as the afterlife.
Baldur, Folla and Frija of the Second Merseburg Charm, as well as the gods
Wotan and Donar named in the Saxon Baptismal vow, all find counterparts in the later
Old Norse pantheon, demonstrating that a personalized Germanic pantheon had been
developed and was widely accepted in all Germanic areas by the ninth or tenth century. 107
Despite the difficulty inherent in clearly identifying the cult of Freyr and Freyja prior to
the Eddic sources, we find ample evidence for its existence. Regardless of its exact
origin, the cult of Vanir cult was a powerful one, well-established at the time of the
Christian conversion.
107 Murdoch and Read, ibid, p. 83.