Cofgod
'Cofgod'(pluralCofgodas( "cove-gods" )) was an Old English term for ahousehold god[1]inAnglo-Saxon paganism.
The classicistKen Dowdenopined that thecofgodaswere the equivalent of thePenatesfound in Ancient Rome.[2]Dowden also compared them to theKoboldof later continental folklore, arguing that they had both originated from thekofewalt,a spirit that had power over a room.[2]If it is true that such beings were known to the early English, later legendary beings such as the Englishhoband Anglo-Celticbrowniewould be the modern survival of thecofgod.[3]However, the only instance of the wordcofgodasin Old English is as a gloss (an explanatory definition) to the Latin wordpenates.[4]
References
[edit]- ^Joseph Bosworth (1838).A Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon Language.Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman. p. 80.
- ^abDowden, Ken (2000).European Paganism: The Realities of Cult from Antiquity to the Middle Ages.London and New York: Routledge. p. 229.ISBN0-415-12034-9.
- ^"Cove-Gods",An Other Dictionary.
- ^Dictionary of Old English Corpus s.v. cofgodas.
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