Níð

"Níð" (Old Norse) (Anglo-Saxon "nith", Old High German (OHG) "nid(d)", modern German form "Neid", modern Low Saxon "nied") in ancient Germanic mythology was the constituting and qualifying attribute for people suspected of being a malicious mythological creature called "nithing" (Old Norse "níðing", OHG "nidding", more recent High German "Neiding"). "Nith" literally meant "envy, hate, malice, insidiousness". [See entry [http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/html/oe_bosworthtoller/b0722.html níþ] from Bosworth & Toller (1898/1921). "An Anglo-Saxon dictionary, based on the manuscript collections of the late Joseph Bosworth", edited and enlarged by T. Northcote Toller, Oxford University Press]

A few sociologists, such as German Gisela Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg (see bibliography), regard it as a significant contribution in the genesis of homophobia and misogyny (both creating and maintaining patriarchy) in the Western world, and also in a wider context of Western (i. e. originally Indo-European) ascetic repression of sensuality ("asceticism" used here as an English translation of the German term "Leibfeindlichkeit" characterizing especially fear and hate of lecherousness, sometimes also translated as "hostility of the body" [See Dr. Hubert Kennedy's 1988 English translation of Dr. Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg's later work [http://web.archive.org/web/20070504025824/http://www.bkgirls.net/research/gisela1.html "The Paedophile Impulse: Toward the Development of an Aetiology of Child-Adult Sexual Contacts from an Ethological and Ethnological Viewpoint"] , "Paidika", no. 2, 1988 (abridged German original published in 1985 as "Der pädophile Impuls - Wie lernt ein junger Mensch Sexualität?" in the peer-reviewed sociological journal "Der Monat", founded by Melvin J. Lasky, edited by Michael Naumann, no. 295, 1985), for her specific use of "Leibfeindlichkeit" being translated as "hostility of the body".] ).

Envy motivates malicious "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 malicious "seid" ["Seid" (Old Norse [http://web.ff.cuni.cz/cgi-bin/uaa_slovnik/gmc_search_v3?cmd=formquery2&query=SEI%26ETH;R&startrow=1 "seiðr"] ) on the "Germanic Lexicon Project"] magic but was regarded the most likely motivation of all for practicing "seid".cite book|last=Schoeck|first=Helmut|title=Der Neid - Eine Theorie der Gesellschaft|year=1966|location=Freiburg and Munich|language=German|pages=24] [Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg, Gisela (1978). Tabu Homosexualität - Die Geschichte eines Vorurteils.] The "nithing" used its malicious "seid" magic to destroy anything owned and made by man, ultimately the human race and "Midgard" itselfcite book|last=Grönbech|first=Wilhelm|title=Kultur und Religion der Germanen (Band 1)|year=1954|location=Darmstadt|language=German|pages=251] , 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 satisfied 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". [cite book|last=Fries|first=Jan de|title=Die geistige Welt der Germanen|year=1964|location=Darmstadt|language=German|pages=50] Harboring "nith" was regarded as destroying the "individual qualities that constituted man and genetical relation"cite book|last=Grönbech|first=Wilhelm|title=Kultur und Religion der Germanen (Band 1)|year=1954|location=Darmstadt|language=German|pages=105] , making deviant, perverse, and ill instead so that this fiend was considered the direct opposite of decent man and its "nith" as contagious.

: [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."cite journal|author=Ernst Klein|title=Der Ritus des Tötens bei den nordischen Völkern|journal=Archiv für Religionswissenschaft|year=1930|volume=28|pages=177]

A "nithing" did not actually become inhuman during life, its "nithing's deed" only made it apparent as what it had always been.cite book|last=Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg|first=Gisela|title=Tabu Homosexualität - Die Geschichte eines Vorurteils|year=1978|location=Frankfurt/Main|language=German|pages=150] 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.cite journal|author=E. Maaß|title=Eunuchos und Verwandtes|journal=Rheinisches Museum für Philologie|year=1925|volume=74|pages=432ff] 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 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."cite book|last=Vordemfelde|first=Hans|title=Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten|year=1923|location=Gießen|language=German|pages=131|chapter=Die germanische Religion in den deutschen Volksrechten]

"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 belief 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"cite book|last=Lehmann|first=Alfred|title=Aberglaube und Zauberei|year=1925|location=Stuttgart|language=German|pages=40] , and as "nith" was insidiousness, a "nithing" was also thought to be a pathological liar and an oathbreaker, prone to committing perjury and especially treason. Summing up the relations between "nith" and criminality:

:"Severe misdeeds 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).cite book|last=Conrad|first=Hermann|title=Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte (Band 1): Frühzeit und Mittelalter|year=1962|location=Karlsruhe|language=German|pages=49] " [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 perjury deeds indicating moral degeneration, such as oathbreaking, perversion, acts of nasty cowardnesscite book|last=Schröder|first=Richard|coauthors=Eberhard v. Künßberg|title=Lehrbuch der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte|edition=7|year=1932|location=Berlin/Leipzig|language=German|pages=80] " [i. e. any acts] " of moral degeneration."cite book|last=Schwerin|first=Claudius v.|title=Grundzüge der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte|year=1950|location=Berlin and Munich|language=German|pages=29]

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.

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, belligerent violence to achieve the same end was that it was a cowardly and weak creature, further indicating its being direct opposite of Germanic warrior ethos.cite book|last=Hermann|first=Paul|title=Das altgermanische Priesterwesen|year=1929|location=Jena|language=German|pages=46] cite book|last=Helm|first=Karl|title=Die Entwicklung der germanischen Religion|year=1926|location=Heidelberg|language=361|pages=361] 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 (via Swedish) "arka", OHG "agr", Old Frisian "erg", modern German "arg", maybe"haragán" ("lazy") in the "Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico" is listed as "uncertain origin". Joan Corominas prefers Eguílaz's proposal of the Arabic "h arûn" ("rebellious [beast] , who would not walk") as the etymon. Because of the initial aspiration, Corominas rejects the etymology of Díez ("Wb.", 424) of Old German "arag" or "arg" ("stingy", "indign", "lazy")] (via Gothic influence) Spanish "haragán". "Earg" is often but translated as "cowardly, weak". Any "seidberender" (practitioner of "seid") was automatically "argr".cite journal|author=Josef Weisweiler|title=Beiträge zur Bedeutungsentwicklung germanischer Wörter für sittliche Begriffe|journal=Indogermanische Forschungen|year=1923|volume=41|pages=16, 19, 24]

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, nuisance", 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 belligerent 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.cite journal|author=Josef Weisweiler|title=Beiträge zur Bedeutungsentwicklung germanischer Wörter für sittliche Begriffe|journal=Indogermanische Forschungen|year=1923|volume=41]

:"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."cite journal|author=Josef Weisweiler|title=Beiträge zur Bedeutungsentwicklung germanischer Wörter für sittliche Begriffe|journal=Indogermanische Forschungen|year=1923|volume=41|pages=16]

"Eacans": Legal definitions of "earg"

"Ergi" and "earg" were further described by specifying swearwords that were called "eacans" (Old Norse "auca", Icelandic "yki", OHG "authon") in ancient Germanic law. An "eacan" was the severe insult made by calling someone a "nithing" and "earg", and due to its severity Germanic laws demanded retribution for this accusation if it had turned out unjustified. The Icelandic Gray Goose Lawscite book|last=Heusler|first=Andreas|title=Isländisches Recht - Die Graugrans|year=1937|location=Weimar|language=German] referred to three "eacan" 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.cite book|last=Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg|first=Gisela|title=Tabu Homosexualität - Die Geschichte eines Vorurteils|year=1978|location=Frankfurt/Main|language=German|pages=164] Another "eacan" from the "Gray Goose" was "being a sorcerer's friend".

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 lecherousness ("lecherous" 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.cite journal|author=Josef Weisweiler|title=Beiträge zur Bedeutungsentwicklung germanischer Wörter für sittliche Begriffe|journal=Indogermanische Forschungen|year=1923|volume=41|pages=21]

Evaluating the ancient age of the "earg"/"ergi" concept

To evaluate the ancient age of all these convictions, it is noteworthy that Roman historian Tacitus's Latin terms "ignavi et imbelles et corpore infames" ("cowardly, not belligerent, and perverted") he used for perverted criminals that were ritually killed by Germanic tribal law in his 98 A. D. book on ancient Germanycite book|last=Tacitus|first=Publius Cornelius|title=De origine et moribus Germanorum|year=98 C.E. language=Latin|chapter=Caput 12] directly equalled "earg" in its correspondent aspects.cite book|last=Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg|first=Gisela|title=Tabu Homosexualität - Die Geschichte eines Vorurteils|year=1978|location=Frankfurt/Main|language=German|pages=25, 109] Any Germanic person speaking Latin would have translated the one word "earg" most likely as "ignavus et imbellis et corpore infamis".cite book|last=Much|first=Rudolf|title=Die 'Germania' des Tacitus|origyear=1959|edition=3|year=1967|location=Heidelberg|language=German|pages=148, 213ff]

Relation to biological sex

"Nithings" always practiced "seid" in female clothes regardless of their biological sex, and they were considered to lose their physical biological sex by that act if they had been male before.cite journal|author=Josef Weisweiler|title=Beiträge zur Bedeutungsentwicklung germanischer Wörter für sittliche Begriffe|journal=Indogermanische Forschungen|year=1923|volume=41|pages=18] cite book|last=Ström|first=Folke|title=Loki - Ein mythologisches Problem|year=1956|location=Göteborg|language=German|pages=72] More recent dialect forms of "seid" linguistically link it to "female sex organs".cite journal|author=Dag Strömbäck|title=Seyd - Textstudier i nordisk religionshistorika|journal=Nordiska texter och undersökningar|year=1935|volume=5|language=Swedish|pages=29–31] Also, there exists (or existed) evidence on the Golden horns of Gallehus that male initiates of "seid" were ritually castrated.cite book|last=Danckert|first=Werner|title=Unehrliche Leute - Die verfemten Berufe|year=1936|location=Bern and Munich|language=German|pages=195] 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 "eacans" in the "Gulathing" lawcite book|last=Meißner|first=Rudolf|title=Norwegisches Recht - Das Rechtsbuch des Gulathings|year=1935|location=Weimar|language=German|pages=123] 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".

Dehumanizing zoomorphism

The "nithing" and its relations to animals

Due to the zoomorphic association of basically shamanic "seid", the "nithing" was thought magically to disguise not only as a human being, but also as a wild animal. 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.cite book|last=Kummer|first=B.|title=Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens (Band 3)|year=1930/31|location=Berlin/Leipzig|language=German|pages=752-755] See also section "Common legal consequences of nith "below on more zoomorphisms.

New Helgi song: Classical offences

A "classical definition of "ergi"cite book|last=Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg|first=Gisela|title=Tabu Homosexualität - Die Geschichte eines Vorurteils|year=1978|location=Frankfurt/Main|language=German|pages=166] 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
"Walkury, an abhorrent
"monster have you been
"frightening, and "earg",
"by Odin!
"The Einherjars
"fought in desire
"about you
"stubborn whore.Verse 38
"Hag on Warinsey island
"that was you
"so insidiously
"conjuring illusions.
"You said that
"the only warrior
"you desired to marry
"was I, Sinfyötli.
Verse 39
"On saganes
"you gave birth
"to nine wolves
"fathered by
"Sinfyötli.

"Eacans" of zoomorphism

In accordance with these more detailed descriptions of what constituted "ergi" as appearing in the "New Helgi song", the "Gulathing" lawcite book|last=Meißner|first=Rudolf|title=Norwegisches Recht - Das Rechtsbuch des Gulathings|year=1935|location=Weimar|language=German|pages=27] referred to "eacans" swearwords further describing "earg" as "being a mare", "being a pregnant animal", "being a bitch", "having indecent intercourse with animals", the "Bergen/Island" lawcite book|last=Meißner|first=Rudolf|title=Stadtrecht des Königs Magnus Hakonarson für Bergen - Bruchstücke des Birkinselrechts und Seefahrerrechts der Jónsbók|year=1950|location=Weimar|language=German|pages=89, 345, 397] 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"cite book|last=Schwerin|first=Claudius v.|title=Schwedische Rechte - Älteres Westgötalag, Uplandslag|year=1935|location=Weimar |language=German|pages=35] 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".cite book|last=Volm|first=Matthew H.|title=Indoeuropäisches Erbgut in den germanischen und slawischen Sprachen|year=1962|location=Wiesbaden|language=German|pages=30] Furthermore, "ergi" was linguistically most closely tied to obscene allegations regarding stallions.cite journal|author=Erik Noreen|title=Studier i fornvästnordisk diktning|journal=Upps. Univ. arsskr.|year=1922|volume=2|pages=48] 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".cite book|last=Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg|first=Gisela|title=Tabu Homosexualität - Die Geschichte eines Vorurteils|year=1978|location=Frankfurt/Main|language=German|pages=123]

"Seid" initiates were probably initiated by that practice (or were thought of as such) after castration so they could perform "seid" magic such as by botany and poisoning. See also Völsa þáttr and, for a similar religious custom in another Indo-European culture, Asvamedha.

"suht": physical ailments, illness, and drug addiction

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 crippledcite book|title=Sammlung Thule (Band 14)|year=1965|language=German|pages=124] ), and the believe sorcerers would not only give birth to animals but also to crippled human children.cite book|last=Hentig|first=Hans v.|title=Die Strafe - Frühformen und gesellschaftliche Zusammenhänge|year=1954|location=Berlin, Göttingen, and Heidelberg|language=German|pages=316, 318]

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

Physical "and" mental illness

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", they were often regarded as "mentally ill" even during ancient times already, as defined by actually or perceivedly deviant social behaviour and feeling.

Etymology of "suht"

The Germanic word for "ill" if relating to a "nithing" was Anglo-Saxon "seoc", OHG "sioh", Gothic "siuks", Old Norse "sjukr", Swed. "sjuk", OFris "sek", MHG "siech", modern English "sick", its noun form (meaning "illness" or "disease") was Old Norse "sott", Gothic "sauhts", OFris "secht", OHG, OSax, Anglo-Saxon "suht", modern High German "Seuche" ("epidemy") and "Sucht" ("addiction"). [Entry for [http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=leiden&morpho=0&basename=%5Cdata%5Cie%5Cfrisian&first=1271 "Secht"] on the "INDO-EUROPEAN ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY (IEED)"] [Entry for [http://web.ff.cuni.cz/cgi-bin/uaa_slovnik/gmc_search_v3?cmd=viewthis&id=tp:b0442:8&gloss=Y "suhti/Sucht"] on the "Germanic Lexicon Project".]

Epidemics and drug addiction

Especially the modern German variants of Germanic "suht" ("Seuche" and "Sucht") still pronounce not only the alleged high risk of infection ("Seuche" = "epidemic"), of "catching" a "nithing's" unmanly, lecherous, and malevolent "ergi" as common in ancient myth, yet also the close connotation with physical and mental addiction ("Sucht" = "addiction"), as in stubbornly clinging to deviant behaviour and feeling, and with "Seid" potions and poisoning that were later associated with drugs in post-Medieval times.

These links of the ancient Germanic "nithing" myth with epidemics (and also natural disasters) as divine punishment upon a mankind not dealing with "nithings" as these creatures deserve, but also with drugs was first evidenced by German scholar Gisela Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg in two of her books dating 1978Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg, Gisela (1978). "Tabu Homosexualität - Die Geschichte eines Vorurteils" ("The taboo of homosexuality: The history of a prejudice called homophobia"). S. Fischer Verlag, Franfurt/Main. ISBN 3-10-007302-9] and 1989Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg, Gisela (1989). "Angst und Vorurteil - AIDS-Ängste als Gegenstand der Vorurteilsforschung" ("Fear and prejudice: An ideology-critical review of society's reactions to aids"). Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg. ISBN 3-499-18247-5] . See also Sodomy#Medieval Christianity on sodomy.

Witches, and satanism

:"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."cite book|last=Maurer|first=Konrad|title=Die Bekehrung des norwegischen Stammes zum Christentume (Band 1)|year=1855|location=Munich|language=German|pages=146]

More evidences on the historical relations between the ancient "nithing" myth, homophobia, belief in witches, and belief in the existence of satanism or satanic conspiracies such as satanic ritual abuse can be found in Gisela Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg's two German books. See also Sodomy#Medieval Christianity on sodomy.

colding

Confronting the enemy

"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", OHG "scelta", Modern German "Schelte"; compare "scoff" and Anglo-Saxon "scop") was supposed to break the concealing "seid" spell and would thus force the fiend to give away its true nature.cite journal|author=Jan de Vries|title=Die Religion der Nordgermanen|journal=Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte|year=1957|volume=2|pages=51] 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." [cite book|last=Gering|first=Hugo|editor=B. Sijmons|title=Kommentar zu den Liedern der Edda"|year=1927|location=Halle|language=German|pages=289] .

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.cite book|last=Heusler|first=Andreas|title=Das Strafrecht der Isländersagas|year=1911|location=Leipzig|language=German|pages=56]

"Nithstang"

Beside by words, "scolding" could also be performed by pejorative visual portrayals, especially by so-called "nithstangs" or "nithing poles". These were stands similar to modern scarecrows, especially two of them together, indicating anal intercourse.cite book|title=Sammlung Thule (Band 9)|year=1964|language=German|pages=99]

Common legal consequences

Outlawry, spiritual and civil death

:"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."cite book|last=Brunner|first=Heinrich|title=Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte (Band 1)|year=1961|location=Berlin|language=German|pages=166]

Ancient dehumanizing terms meaning both "wolf" and "strangler" were common as synonyms for outlaws: OHG "warc", Salian "wargus", Anglo-Saxon "vearg", Old Norse "vargr".cite book|last=Brunner|first=Heinrich|title=Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte (Band 1)|year=1961|location=Berlin|language=German|pages=167] See also section" Nith and dehumanizing zoomorphism" above.

entence: Death

:"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."cite book|last=Grönbech|first=Wilhelm|title=Kultur und Religion der Germanen (Band 1)|year=1954|location=Darmstadt|language=German|pages=344]

In the case of "nithings", we must not think of legal executions in the proper sense, rather these executions were legally endorsed lynching, sudden and incontrollable eruptions of social hatred and anger of all people involved.cite book|last=Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg|first=Gisela|title=Tabu Homosexualität - Geschichte eines Vorurteils|year=1978|location=Frankfurt/Main|language=German|pages=154]

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."cite book|last=Hentig|first=Hans v.|title=Die Strafe - Frühformen und gesellschaftliche Zusammenhänge|year=1954|location=Berlin, Göttingen, and Heidelberg|language=German|pages=95]

Potential historical context

Noted German scholar in sociology, psychology, ethnology, Indo-European studies (both in ethnology and linguistics), religious studies, and philosophy, Gisela Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg expounds on potential historical context, genesis, and evolution of the ancient Germanic "nithing" myth and its influences upon Christianity and modern science from the end of the last glacial epoch in about 9,000 b. C. until the present day especially in her works (the second ordered and sponsored by the German parliament on the societal, juridical, and national health consequences and challenges of the aids disease), treating it as a common concept in all Indo-European cultures and linking it with the basic genesis and evolution of such things as homophobia, misogyny, patriarchy, racism, asceticism, or the Medieval witch hunts, drawing upon, among others, Mircea Eliade, Marija Gimbutas, Sigmund Freud, C. G. Jung, Norbert Elias, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Karl Popper, Michel Foucault, and James W. Prescott. See also Sodomy#Medieval Christianity on sodomy.

ee also

*Ergi
*Seid
*Homosexuality in Norse paganism
*Effeminacy
*"Malakia" in ancient Hellenic society (formerly "Classical definition of effeminacy")
* in Semitic languages
*Moral turpitude

External links

The historical Germanic vocabulary used here and its etymological relations can be found via the search function at the [http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/ Germanic Lexicon Project] . Note though that in Anglo-Saxon and Norse the letters "eth" (Ð, ð) and "thorn" (Þ, þ) can be used interchangeably.

References

Bibliography

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

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