 The misreading of the goddess name "Nerthus" in Tacitus's 1 CE ethnographic work "Germania" on the ancient Germanic peoples led to the proliferation of the goddess name "Hertha" from the 16th century to the 19th century, which led to the coining of the hydronym "Herthasee".However, developments in historical linguistics led to a widely accepted etymological identification with the North Germanic god Njörðr.The location of the Nerthus lake ritual attested in "Germania" has subsequently been rejected, with contenders such as the island of Zealand (in modern Denmark) often proposed.