Niðingr

In historical Germanic society, nīþ (Old Norse: níð Old English: nīþ, nīð; Old Dutch: nīth); was a term for a social stigma implying the loss of honour and the status of a villain. A person affected with the stigma is a nīðing (Old Norse: níðingr/ᚾᛁᚦᛁᚴᛦ, Old English: nīðing, nīðgæst, or Old High German: nidding ), one lower (cf. modern English beneath, modern Dutch beneed/beneden, modern German nieder and modern Danish and Swedish nedre) than those around him. Middle English retained a cognate nithe, meaning "envy" (cf. modern Dutch and modern German neid/neidvoll), "hate", or "malice."

A related term is ergi, carrying the connotation of "unmanliness".

Ergi and argr (Wendish 'inclosure') or ragr (Wendish 'entrance') can be regarded as specifying swearwords. Ergi, argr and ragr were the severe insults made by calling someone a coward, and due to its severity old Scandinavian laws demanded retribution for this accusation if it had turned out unjustified. The Icelandic Gray Goose Laws referred to three words that were regarded as equal to argr by themselves. Those were ragr, strodinn, and sordinn, all three meaning the passive role of a man included in same-sex activities among males. Another semantic belonging to argr, ragr and ergi was, from the Gray Goose, "being a sorcerer's friend."

Examples from Old Scandinavian Laws: The Gulathing law referred to "being a male bottom," "being a slave," "being a seiðmaðr," the Bergen/Island law referred to "being a seiðmaðr," "being a sorcerer and/or desiring same-sex activities as a [passive] male (kallar ragann)," the Frostothing law to "desiring male same-sex activities as a bottom." Thus, it is apparent that ergi of a níðingr was strongly connoted not only with sorcery, unmanliness, weakness, and effeminacy but also especially with lecherousness or sexual perversion in the view of Old Scandinavian people during the Early and High Middle Ages. Ergi of females was considered as excessive lecherousness bordering raging madness, ergi of males as perversity, effeminacy and the passive role within same-sex intercourse between men, while an active role of a man, who had been included into same-sex intercourse, was not to be tanged by ergi, ragr, argr or níð.

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