Níð

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Anglo-Saxon nith, Old Norse níð, Teuton/Gothic nid(d), modern German form Neid, in ancient Germanic mythology was the constituting attribute that qualified people as being suspected of being an evil mythological creature called nithing, Old Norse níðing, Teuton/Gothic nidding, more recent High German Neiding. Most immediately, nith literally meant "envy, hate, malice, insidiousness".

A few sociologists, such as German Gisela Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg (see references), regard it as a significant contribution in the genesis of homophobia and misogyny (both creating and maintaining patriarchy) in the Western world, in a wider context also of Western chastity (i. e. fear and hate of lecherousness) in general.

Nith envy motivates evil seid magic

According to at least two scholarly sources (depending on how much one limits this definition of 'most likely'), nith did not only motivate practicing of evil seid magic but was regarded the most likely motivation of all for practicing seid.Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg, Gisela (1978). Tabu Homosexualität - Die Geschichte eines Vorurteils. The nithing used its evil seid magic to destroy anything owned and made by man, ultimately the human race and Midgard itself, due to its basically unlimited envy, hate, and malice that were nith.

Since primitive societies exclusively attributed their fear of evil sorcerers [= seiðmaðr] to the sorcerer's motivating envy, all Indo-Germanic proverbs on the matter indicate that passive envy easily turns into aggressive crimes. He who envies is not satisifed to passively wait for his neighbours to run into accidents by coincidence to secretely gloat over them (while his gloating habits are widely accepted as a fact), he makes sure that they will live in misery or worse. [...] Envy brings death, envy seeks evil ways.

Hence, the nithing was regarded as a mythological fiend "that only exists to cause harm and bring certain undoing". Harboring nith was regarded as destroying the "individual qualities that constituted man and genetical relation", making deviant, perverse, and ill instead so that this fiend was considered the direct opposite of decent man and its nith as contageous.

[Nithings] were aided, guided, or coerced by an evil force to do their evil deeds. Hence, a nithing was not only degenerated in a general [moral] sense [...], it had originally been a human being of evil, fiendish nature that had either sought evil deliberately or had been taken into possession by evil forces unwillingly.

A nithing did not actually become inhuman during life, its nithing's deed only made it apparent as what it had always been. Any eerieness and inscrutability was what made people suspect a person of being a nithing, whether this was based upon physical abnormalities or mental traits. These eerie people were isolated within their kinship, which might have contributed to their status of social misfits and criminals.

Nith, seid, and criminality

The seid used prominently by nithings was linguistically closely linked to botany and poisoning. Therefore, seid to a degree must have been regarded as identical to murder by poisoning. This Norse concept of poisoning based on magic was equally present in Roman law:

[The equality in Germanic and Roman law about equalling poisoning and magic] was not created by influence of Roman laws upon Germanic people, even though an identical conception was indeed manifest in Roman law. This apparent likeness is probably based upon the shared original primitive conceptions about religion due to a shared Indo-European origin of both people.

Nithing poisoning ties in with the legal Germanic differentiation of murder and killing. Criminal murder differed from legitimate killing as by being performed in secret insidiously, away from the eyes of the community that had not been involved in the matter.

Sorcery [in Norse antiquity] equalled mysteriously utilizing evil forces, just as mysterious and abhorrent a crime as sexual deviancy. As for theft and murder, even more recent common German believe still regarded them to be so closely associated to magical practices as to be entirely impossible without these latter. Those that were capable of breaking open heavy locks at night without being noticed by watchdogs nor waking up people had to be in command of supernatural abilities. Equally weird were those that were capable of murdering innocent lives. They were aided, guided, or coerced by an evil force to do their evil deeds.

Since sorcery "was not accepted officially, it could not serve the kinship as a whole, only private cravings; no decent person was safe from the secret arts of sorcerers" , and as nith was insidiousness, a nithing was also thought to be a notorious lier and an oathbreaker, prone to committing perjory and especially treason. Summing up the relations between nith and criminality:

Severe missdeeds were perjury deeds, especially if they had been committed insidiously and in secret. Such perpetrators were nithings, despicable beings. Their perjury deeds included: Murder, theft, nightly arson, as well as any deeds that harmed the kinship's legally protected rights (treason, deserting to the enemy, deserting from the army, resisting to fight in a war, and perversion). [Furthermore these deeds included] any crimes offending the deities, such as breaking a special peace treaty (for example thing peace, armistice, security of the ceremony places and buildings, or a special festivity peace), trespass, defilement of graves, sorcery, finally all perjory deeds indicating moral degeneration, such as oathbreaking, perversion, acts of nasty cowardness [i. e. any acts] of moral degeneration.

This excessive mass of nithing associations might at first seem cumbersome and without any recognizable pattern. However the pattern behind it is outlined in the following sections.

Nith, weakness, earg, ergi, social gender, and sexual deviance

Why a nithing used seid

It was believed that the reason for a nithing to resort to insidious seid magic in order to cause harm instead of simply attacking people by decent, belligerant violence to achieve the same end was that it was a cowardly and weak creature, further indicating its being direct opposite of decent, belligerant Germanics. This weak, cowardly, and basically unmanly state was referred to by the adjective earg(h) in Anglo-Saxon, modern English form eerie (but also argh), Old Norse argr, Finnish arka, Teuton/Gothic agr, Spanish (via Gothic influence) aragan, Old Frisian erg, modern German arg. Earg is often but translated as "cowardly, weak". Any seidberender (practitioner of seid) was automatically argr.

Etymology

Anglo-Saxon yrhde, but ergi in all other Germanic languages was the noun form of earg, but originally its comparative form. Ergi literally meant "annoyance", and such an annoyance was what the mere existence and presence of a nithing was regarded as. Ergi furthermore referred to the feeling of anger (literally derived from ancient ergi), Old Norse erger, modern German Ärger, that an abhorrent nithing moved in decent belligerant males, and to the trouble (modern German Ärger just as well) the nithing hence was in as well. On all these linguistical and etymological relations of earg and ergi see Weisweiler 1923.

The term earg and all its derivations are very common in all Germanic languages; in modern Dutch and in Middle High German they mean "morally corrupted". Modern written English lacks the term, however northern English slang has preserved it in the meaning of "cowardly, lazy, wretched". This is close to its original meaning, hence particular slang words derivated from it are very ancient.

Yki: Legal definitions of earg

Ergi and earg were further described by specifying swearwords that were called yki in ancient Germanic law. The Icelandic Gray Goose Laws referred to three yki swearwords that were regarded as equal to earg by themselves. Those were ragan, strodinn, and sordinn, all three meaning top and bottom same-sex activities among males. Another yki from the Gray Goose was "being a sorcerer's friend".

Yki from other laws included: 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 male (kallar ragann)", the Frostothing law to "desiring male same-sex activities as a bottom", the Salian law to "being a sorcerer", the Anglo-Saxon and Danish laws mostly summed it all up as "being a nithing".

Conclusions on the earg/ergi concept

Thus, it is apparent that earg/ergi of a nithing was strongly connoted not only with sorcery, unmanliness, weakness, and effeminacy but also especially with leacherousness (leacherous actually being the pivotal meaning of the adjective earg) yielding especially desire for same-sex activities among males, and to slightly lesser degree sexual perversion in general (see more below). Ergi of females was considered as excessive lecherousness bordering raging madness, ergi of males as perversity and effeminacy.

Evaluating the ancient age of the earg/ergi concept

To evaluate the ancient age of all these convictions, it is noteworthy that ancient Roman historian Tacitus's Latin terms ignavi et imbelles et corpore infames ("cowardly, not belligerant, and perverted") he used for perverted criminals that were ritually killed by Germanics in his 98 a. D. book on ancient Germany directly equalled earg in its correspondent aspects. Any Germanic person speaking Latin would have translated the one word earg most likely as "ignavus et imbellis et corpore infamis".

Nith in relation to biological sex

Nithings always practiced seid in female clothes regardless of their biological sex, and they were considered to physically lose their biological sex by that if they had been male before. More recent dialect forms of seid linguistically link it to "female sex organs". Also, there exists (or existed) evidence on the golden horns of Gallehus that male initiates of seid were ritually castrated. So either way, basically all practitioners of seid were equally female, or rather, in regard to the nithing concept, a neutral fiend though nonetheless obviously opposing male Germanic warriors by what was regarded as mental or moral effeminacy.

According yki in the Gulathing law were "having born children as a male", "being a male whore", while the Gray Goose referred to "being a woman each ninth night", and "having born children as a male".

Nith and dehumanizing zoomorphism

The nithing and its relations to animals

Due to the zoomorphic association of basically shamanic seid, the nithing was thought to magically disguise not only as a human being. Its capability of magical transformation of biological sex from male to female by practicing seid was regarded as equal to the capability of transformation of the whole physical self, especially into unpredictable, raging animals, most notably wolves and werewolves. See also section Common legal consequences of nith below on more zoomorphisms.

Nithings also used seid to "make" animals out of thin air (though especially vermin destroying harvests) which is a common practice of shamanism.

New Helgi song: Classical offences

A "classical definition of ergi" is found in the scoldings (see section below) of warriors Gudmund and Sinfyötli in the New Helgi song, offending each other as earg and thus challenging each other before a fight. Gudmund perjorates Sinfyötli in verse 36:

Verse 36

''Prince you cannot

''talk about me

''like that,

''scolding a

''noble man.

''For you ate

''a wolf's treat,

''shedding your brother's

''blood, often

''you sucked on wounds

''with an icy maw,

''creeping to

''dead bodies,

''being hated by all.

and in following verses 37-39 Sinfyötli rebuts this:

Verse 37	Verse 38	Verse 39
''Walkury, an abhorrent	Hag on Warinsey island	On saganes
''monster have you been	that was you	you gave birth
frightening, and earg'',	so insidiously	to nine wolves,
''by Odin!	conjuring illusions.	fathered by
The einheryern''	You said that	Sinfyötli.
''fought in desire	the only warrior
''about you	you desired to marry
''stubborn whore.	was I, Sinfyötli.

Yki of zoomorphism

In accordance with these more detailed descriptions of what constituted ergi as appearing in the New Helgi song, the Gulathing law referred to yki swearwords further describing earg as "being a mare", "being a pregnant animal", "being a bitch", "having indecent intercourse with animals", the Bergen/Island law referred to "biting another man", "being a pregnant animal", the Frostothing law to "being a female animal", the Uplandslag law to "having sexual intercourse with an animal" These are only a few select examples.

What seid really was

The -berender component of seidberender (often simply translated as "practitioner of seid") is etymologically closely related to Indo-Germanic words for "bearing", "giving birth", and "pregnant", and even in modern Russian there are related terms literally meaning "pregnant mare". Furthermore, ergi was linguistically most closely tied to obscene allegations regarding stallions. This is probably the pivotal reason why seidberender literally means "pregnant from (practicing) seid", why seid was regarded as effeminating, as lecherous ergi; this "probably is as close to the original, central meaning of the word [seid] as we can get".

Seid initiates were probably initiated by that practice (or were thought of as such) after castration so they could peform seid magic such as by botany and poisoning. See also Asvamedha and volsi.

Nith, physical ailments, and illness

Probably originally due to ritual castration of male seid initiates, nithings were thought to be suffering of physical ailments and were associated with crippledness. Most notably were limping as an outer indication of being a nithing (such as in the story of Rögnvald Straightleg whose last name was in fact but an ironic offence as his legs were actually crippled), and the believe sorcerers would not only give birth to animals but also to crippled human children.

[...] a nithing was not only degenerated in a general [moral] sense [...] This [moral] degeneration was often innate, especially apparent by physical ailments.

These physical afflictions were regarded as furthermore supporting weakness of a nithing. It was often hard to distinguish these attributes from actual physical illness, and since "any eerieness and incomprehensiblity was what made people suspect a person of being a nithing, whether this was based upon physical anomalities or mental traits" (see section Nith envy motivates evil seid magic), they were often regarded as being mentally ill even during ancient times already, as defined by deviant social behaviour.

Nith and witches

Sorcery was commonly considered as running counter nature and frightening, loathed as a heinous offence against those limits set to man by nature. Not only sorcerers were regarded as fiends opposing benevolent deities, so were wise women [see etymology at witch] as well.

Even after Christianization, pagan superstition and magic were referred to as ergi by Christian writers using their native language.

Nith and scolding

Confronting the enemy: Shout at the devil

Nithings had to be scolded, i. e. they had to be shouted in their faces what they were in most derogatory terms, as scolding (Anglo-Saxon scald, Norse skald, Icelandic skalda, Teuton/Gothic scelta, Modern German Schelte) was supposed to break the concealing seid spell and would thus force the fiend to give away its true nature. Dehumanizing, zoomorphic scolding was very common to denote a nithing since it was said to frequently turn into animals.

The actual meaning of the adjective argr or ragr [= Anglo-Saxon earg] was the nature or appearance of effeminacy, especially by obscene acts. Argr was the worst, most derogatory swearword of all known to the Norse language. According to Icelandic law, the accused was expected to kill the accuser at once..

How one was proven guilty of being a nithing

If the accused did not retort by violent attack yielding either the accuser to take his words back or the accuser's death, he was hence proven to be a weak and cowardly nithing by not retorting accordingly.

Nithstang

Beside by words, scolding could also be performed by pejorative visual portrayals, especially by so-called nithstangs. These were stands similar to modern scarecrows, especially two of them together, indicating anal intercourse.

Common legal consequences of nith

Outlawry, spiritual and civil death

The immediate consequence of being proven a nithing was outlawing (see for example )

The outlawed did not have any rights, he was exlex (Latin for "outside of the legal system"), in Anglo-Saxon utlah, Middle Low German uutlagh, Old Norse utlagr. Just as feud yielded enmity among kinships, outlawry yielded enmity of all humanity.

"Nobody is allowed to protect, house, or feed the outlaw. He must seek shelter alone in the woods just like a wolf." "Yet that is but one aspect of outlawry. The outlaw is not only expelled from the kinship, he is also regarded henceforth as an enemy to mankind."

Ancient dehumanizing terms meaning both "wolf" and "strangler" were common as synonyms for outlaws: Teuton/Gothic warc, Salian wargus, Anglo-Saxon vearg, Old Norse vargr. See also section Nith and dehumanizing zoomorphism above.

Outlaws were regarded as physically and legally dead, their spouse was seen as widow or widower and their children as orphans, their fortune and belongings were either seized by the kinship or destroyed.

Sentence: Death

It was every man's duty to capture the outlaw and [...] kill him.

Nithings were considered to come back to their bodies after death by their evil seid magic, and even their dead bodies themselves were regarded as highly poisoning and contageous.

To prevent them from coming back as undead, their bodies had to be made entirely immobile, especially by impaling, burning up , drowning in rivers or bogs, or even all of the above. "Not any measure to this end was considered too awkward."

It could be better to fixate the haunting evil's body by placing large rocks on it, impaling it [..]. Often enough, people saw their efforts had been in vain, so they mounted destruction upon destruction on the individual fiend, maybe starting by beheading, then entirely burning up its body, and finally leaving its ashes in streaming water, hoping to absolutely annihilate the evil, incorporeal spirit itself.

In the case of nithings, we must not think of legal executions in the proper sense, rather these executions were legally justified lynching, sudden and incontrollable eruptions of social hatred and anger of all people involved.

Escape and loneliness

If a person that had been accused as a nithing made it to escape their execution, he or she actually had to live all on their own in nature, far from any kinship.

Only giants, cannibals etc. could survive on their own. Mere mortals could sustain to superior animal, human, and spiritual forces only by joined kinship. Only being together with people brought safety and security. Therefore, getting expelled from kinship did not only pose a deadly threat to the individual but also brought severe mental trauma. While in later times an artificial agony called punishment is arduously created, ancient people had it much easier. The kinship simply expelled offenders from their midst, putting their lives in immediate danger. As soon as the outlaw was out of any helping solidarity, he was left to all sorts of immediate threats to destroy him.

Potential historical context of nith

See also

• Ergi
• Seid
• Homosexuality in Norse paganism
• Effeminacy
• Classical definition of effeminacy

Notes and references

Notes

References

Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg, Gisela (1978). Tabu Homosexualität - Die Geschichte eines Vorurteils. S. Fischer Verlag, Franfurt/Main. ISBN 3-10-007302-9

 

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