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Nicneven or Nicnevin or Nicnevan (whose name is from a Scottish Gaelic surname, Neachneohain meaning "daughter(s) of the divine" and/or "daughter(s) of Scathach" NicNaoimhein meaning "daughter of the little saint")〔"nic" meaning "daughter" and "naoimhein" meaning "of little saint" ( > the proper name Niven) http://www.dsl.ac.uk/〕 is a Queen of the Fairies in Scottish folklore. The use of the name for this meaning was first found in Montgomerie’s Flyting (c.1585)〔 and was seemingly taken from a woman in Scotland condemned to death for witchcraft before being burnt at the stake as a witch.〔''Supplement to the Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language: Volume Two'' by John Jamieson, Printed at the University Press for W. & C. Tait, 1825, page. 156〕 In the Borders the name for this archetype was Gyre-Carling whose name had variants such as Gyre-Carlin, Gy-Carling, Gay-Carlin amongst others.〔''A Glossary of North Country Words, with Their Etymology, and Affinity to Other Languages: And Occasional Notices of Local Customs and Popular Superstitions'' by John Trotter Brockett, William Edward Brockett, E. Charnley, 1846, page 203〕 ''Gyre'' is possibly a cognate of the Norse word ''geri'' and thus having the meaning of "greedy"〔''An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language: Illustrating the Words in Their Different Significations by Examples from Ancient and Modern Writers, Volume One'' by John Jamieson, Printed at the University Press for W. Creech, 1808, page. 374〕 or it may be from the Norse ''gýgr'' meaning "ogress";〔 ''carling'' or ''carline'' is a Scots and Northern English word meaning "old woman" which is from, or related to, the Norse word ''kerling'' (of the same meaning).〔''A Dictionary of North East Dialect'' by Bill Griffiths, Northumbria University Press, 2005, ISBN 1-904794-16-5, ISBN 978-1-904794-16-5, page. 28〕〔''Scandinavian Loan-Words in Middle English, Part 1'' by Erik Bjorkman, BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008, ISBN 0-559-15368-6, ISBN 978-0-559-15368-6, page 142〕 She was sometimes thought of as the mother witch, Hecate, or Habundia figure of Scottish fairy mythology.〔Joseph Mallord William Turner, ed., ''The poetical works of Sir Walter Scott'' (Robert Cadell, 1833), (v. 2 pp. 279-280 ).〕 This guise is frankly diabolical.〔Katharine Briggs, ''A Dictionary of Fairies'' (Penguin, 1977; ISBN 0-14-004753-0), p. 310〕 Sir Walter Scott calls her: :a gigantic and malignant female, the Hecate of this mythology, who rode on the storm and marshalled the rambling host of wanderers under her grim banner. This hag (in all respects the reverse of the Mab or Titania of the Celtic creed) was called Nicneven in that later system which blended the faith of the Celts and of the Goths on this subject. The great Scottish poet Dunbar has made a spirited description of this Hecate riding at the head of witches and good neighbours (fairies, namely), sorceresses and elves, indifferently, upon the ghostly eve of All-Hallow Mass. In Italy we hear of the hags arraying themselves under the orders of Diana (in her triple character of Hecate, doubtless) and Herodias, who were the joint leaders of their choir, But we return to the more simple fairy belief, as entertained by the Celts before they were conquered by the Saxons.〔Sir Walter Scott, ''Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft'' (1831), ch, ( 4 )〕 Alexander Montgomerie, in his ''Flyting'', described her as: Nicnevin with her nymphes, in number anew With charms from Caitness and Chanrie of Ross Whose cunning consists in casting a clew.〔James Miller, ''St. Baldred of the Bass: a Pictish legend. The siege of Berwick: a tragedy: with other poems and ballads founded on the local traditions of East Lothian and Berwickshire'' (Oliver & Boyd, 1824), p. (267 )〕 Even so, the elder Nicnevin or Gyre-Carling retained the habit of night riding with an "elrich" entourage mounted on unlikely and supernatural steeds. Another, satirical popular depiction made her leave Scotland after a love-quarrel with her neighbour, to become wife of "Mahomyte" and queen of the "Jowis". She was an enemy of Christian people, and "levit vpoun Christiane menis flesche"; still, her absence caused dogs to stop barking and hens to stop laying.〔David Laing, William Carew Hazlitt, ''Early popular poetry of Scotland and the northern border'' (Reeves and Turner, 1895), p. (18 )〕 But in Fife, the Gyre-Carling was associated with spinning and knitting, like Habetrot; here it was believed to be unlucky to leave a piece of knitting unfinished at the New Year, lest the Gyre-Carling should steal it.〔Briggs, above, p. 213〕 ==See also== *Elf *Fairy *Queen of Elphame *Wild Hunt 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nicnevin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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