Njarar orNjars were an ancientGermanic people ofNärke, Sweden,[citation needed] that appears in the Scandinavian version of theLay of Weyland the smith. In the early part of the lay, King Níðuðr is introduced as a king in Sweden:
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Later he is specified as the lord of the Njars:
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The Njars probably lost their independence early to theSwedish king atUppsala, and they are not mentioned byJordanes in his thorough listing of tribes inScandza, in the sixth century. There are few mentions of the Njarar/Nerikjar inOld Norse sources, but for exceptions seeKing of Nerike.
At first glance, the name is hard to recognize, because the people of Nerike are otherwise called theNerikjar inOld Norse sources. However,njar is abreaking of an olderner. The same sound change happened witheka andhertõ which resulted injag (I) andhjarta (heart). However, in the case ofNjar, the sound change never became established, and the older formner continued to be used for the province and its population.
Ner is, in its turn, an umlaut from an oldernar[citation needed] which is cognate to Englishnarrow. The name referred to the narrow inlets that characterized the geography. The north-eastern (Kvismaren-Hjälmaren) has disappeared artificially, but the southern part of the province still has a large fjord.
