'Cofgod' (plural Cofgodas ("cove-gods")) was an Old English term for a household god [1] in Anglo-Saxon paganism.
The classicist Ken Dowden opined that the cofgodas were the equivalent of the Penates found in Ancient Rome. [2] Dowden also compared them to the Kobold of later continental folklore, arguing that they had both originated from the kofewalt, 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 English hob and Anglo-Celtic brownie would be the modern survival of the cofgod. [3] However, the only instance of the word cofgodas in Old English is as a gloss (an explanatory definition) to the Latin word penates. [4]