Origo Gentis Langobardorum

The Origo Gentis Langobardorum is a short 7th-century, Latin account offering a founding myth of the Lombard people. The first part visions the origin and naming of the Lombards, and the following text more resembles a king-list, up until the rule of Perctarit (672–688), which helps date the original writing of the text.

The account has been preserved in three codices, mostly containing legalistic writings compiled in the reign of Rothari and known as Edictum Rothari or Leges Langobardorum. As such, Origo Gentis Langobardorum is preserved in three manuscripts, Modena, Biblioteca Capitolare 0.I.2 (9th century), Cava de’ Tirreni, Archivio Della Badia 4, (early 9th century) and Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional 413 (early 11th century).

Origo Gentis Langobardorum is also the textual source of the Lombard theonym godan (Wōdanaz).

The Origo is summarized somewhat faithfully in the Historia Langobardorum by Paulus Diaconus. For the legend of origin Paulus Diaconus makes separate text paragraphs for, respectively, the conflict with the Vandals and the consulting with Frea and Godan, and he precedes the description of Frea and Godan with "loco antiquitas ridiculam fabulam" . Whereas the Origo is only extant in three copies, there are hundreds of medieval copies of the Historia.

Following is a free translation.

The text mentions an island Scandanan, the home of the Winnili. Their ruler was a woman called Gambara, with her sons Ybor and Agio. The leaders of the Vandals, Ambri and Assi, asked them to pay them tribute, but they refused, saying they would fight them. Ambri and Assi then went to Godan, and asked him for victory over the Winnili. Godan replied that he would give the victory to whomever he saw first at sunrise. At the same time, Gambara and her sons asked Frea, Godan's wife, for victory. Frea advised that the women of the Winnili should tie their hair in front of their faces like beards and join their men for battle. At sunrise, Frea turned her husband's bed so that he was facing east, and woke him. Godan saw the women of the Winnili, their hair tied in front of their faces, and asked "Who are these longbeards?", and Frea replied, since you named them, give them victory, and he did. From this day, the Winnili were called Langobardi, "longbeards".

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