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In historical Germanic society, ''nīþ'' (; ; ); 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 (, , or ), one lower (''cf.'' modern English ''beneath'', modern Dutch ''beneed''/''beneden'' and modern German ''nieder'') than those around him. Middle English retained a cognate ''nithe'', meaning "envy" (''cf.'' modern Dutch ''nijd'' and modern German ''neid''/''neidvoll''), "hate", or "malice."〔The last attestations recorded by the OED date to the early 15th century. See also the entry (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 related term is ''ergi'', carrying the connotation of "unmanliness". ==Níð, argr, ragr and ergi== ''Ergi'' and ''argr'' or ''ragr'' 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.〔Seebold, Elmar (Ed.): Art. arg, in: Kluge. Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 24. Auflage, Berlin, New York 2002, S. 58.〕 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 () 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''.〔Ruth Karras Mazo: Sexualität im Mittelalter. Aus dem Amerikanischen von Wolfgang Hartung, Düsseldorf 2006, pp. 275-277.〕 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「Nīþ」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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