>Perhaps I am
>just ignorant, and godi (the singular for godi is something else isn't it?
>Goda? Or is that a cheese? Is this the real reason I do not like the
>word?) was
>a name used through-out Viking culture, and not only in Iceland.
'Godi' is the singular. 'Godar' is the plural. 'Gouda' is the cheese. The concept of godar was not only used in Iceland.
There were no full-time 'priests' in Scandinavia except at the largest of temples. And the chiefs definitely were not priests or representatives of the gods.
All of the ordinary ceremonies and rituals of the stead-based viking culture were led by the godar. Godar weren't priests that worked part-time; they were 'priests' if and when they led the ceremonies. Outside the ceremonies they were just ordinary people who had to work for a living. OK, not just 'ordinary'; they were wise old men/women who knew lots of weird stuff and were supported by their relatives for their wisdom, but it still doesn't make them the RW equivalents of rune-level persons.
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