"nið", "ergi" And Old Norse Moral Attitudes

NIÐ, ERGI AND OLD NORSE MORAL ATTITUDES By FO LK E S T R Ö M MED. & FIL.DR BIBLIOTEKSRÄD, GOTHENBURG The Dorothea Coke Memorial Lecture in Northern Studies delivered at University College London io May 1973 P U B L IS H E D F O R T H E C O L L E G E V IK IN G S O C IE T Y FO R N O RTH ERN LO N D O N BY TH E RESEA RC H © U N IV E R S IT Y C O L L E G E L O N D O N 1 9 7 4 P R IN T E D B Y T. & A . C O N S T A B L E L T D E D IN B U R G H N IÐ , E R G I A N D O L D N O R S E M O R A L A T T IT U D E S T h ere is a pa ssa g e in g is l a sa g a w h ic h r ela tes how its principal character, Gish Súrsson, suffered a very serious insult during his younger days in N orw ay. The incident in question and the events leading up to it are described as follows: Gish had a sister called Þórdís who was both handsome and intelligent. A man called Hólm gqngu-Skeggi proposed to her but was rejected. The reason would seem to be that Þórdís was more interested in another man, the young Kolbjqm from Hella in Súmadalr: this at all events was what Skeggi suspected, and he challenged Kolbjqm to a duel ('hólmganga) on his home island o f Saxa. Kolbjqm answered that he would come, saying that he would be unworthy o f Þórdís’s hand i f he did not dare to fight Skeggi. But at the moment o f truth he revealed that he was unequal to the situation; he backed out in a cowardly fashion leaving Gish to appear in his place. ‘This w ill bring great shame upon you, but I w ill go,’ said Gish to Kolbjqm . A t the appointed time Skeggi appeared on the duelling place with his supporters. They found the place deserted; neither Kolbjqm nor anyone else was to be seen. And this was what happened next: there was a man called R efr who worked as a carpenter for Skeggi. Skeggi directed him to make images o f Gish and Kolbjqm —‘and have one stand close behind the other; and that níð w ill always be there to shame them’ {ok skal níð þat standa ávallt þeim til háðungar). The saga afterwards describes how Gish overheard these preparations from the adjoining wood, and how he came forward and fought Skeggi in single combat. The fight ended with Skeggi losing one o f his legs and experiencing the humiliation o f having to buy him self off.1 The saga uses the term níð to describe the insulting action planned by Skeggi. Fritzner defines níð as a form o f ridicule whereby a person is represented as w orthy o f universal contempt, 1 Gisla saga Súrssonar, ch. a. 3 NÍÐ, ERGI A N D is given the label o f hvers mams níðingr.1 The laws distinguished between tunguníð, verbal níð (literally ‘níð o f the tongue’), and tréníð,2 carved níð (‘wood-shame’). It is to the latter type, which is defined by Erik Noreen as ‘a níð which is erected somewhere’ and by B o Alm qvist as ‘sculptural níð’,3 that the episode in Gisla saga obviously refers. But what explanation can be offered for this níð and for the curious form which it takes? The staging obviously was meant to express mockery o f the opposite side’s failure to appear for the duel. It also seems that this failure had been anticipated by Skeggi; in other words the nid was intended as a response to a piece o f undisguised cowardice. But how should w e explain the bizarre nature o f the arrangement? A modem observer must be struck by its peculiarity. The meaning o f níð and the form it takes in Gisla saga should be considered in relation to another Old Norse conception with which it is often closely linked, the word ergi. Ergi, like the ad­ jective argr from which it is formed, ha