Everything about Ergi totally explained
Ergi (noun) and
argr (adjective) are two
Old Norse terms of
insult, denoting
effeminacy or other unmanly behavior.
Argr (also
ragr) is "unmanly" and
ergi is "unmanliness"; the terms have cognates in other
Germanic languages such as
earh,
earg,
arag,
arug, and so on.
To accuse another man of being
argr was called
scolding (see
níð), and thus a legal reason to challenge the accuser in
holmgang. If holmgang was refused by the accused, he could be outlawed (full outlawry), as this refusal proved that the accuser was right and the accused was
argr (= unmanly, cowardly). If the accused fought successfully in
holmgang and had thus proven that he wasn't
argr, the
scolding was considered an
eacan, an unjustified, severe defamation, and the accuser had to pay the offended party full compensation. The
Grágás law code states:
» "There are three words—should exchanges between people ever reach such dire limits—which all have full outlawry as the penalty; if a man calls another
ragr,
stroðinn or
sorðinn. As they're to be prosecuted like other
fullréttisorð and, what is more, a man has the right to kill in retaliation for these three words. He has the right to kill in retaliation on their account over the same period as he's the right to kill on account of women, in both cases up the next General Assembly. The man who utters these words falls with forfeit immunity at the hands of anyone who accompanies the man about whom they were uttered to the place of their encounter” (Meulengracht Sørenson 17).
The practice of
seiðr was considered
ergi in the
Viking Age, and in
Icelandic accounts and medieval
Scandinavian laws, the term
argr had connotations of receptive
homosexual intercourse. These laws were made after the countries converted to
Christianity. There are no written records of how the northern people thought of homosexuality before this conversion, but it's likely that they didn't approve of anal intercourse.
In modern Scandinavian languages,
argr has the meaning "angry" (
Swedish,
Norwegian arg,
Danish arrig). In modern
Icelandic the word has evolved to "ergilegur," meaning "[toseem/appear] irritable". In modern Dutch the word 'erg' means terrible or (very) annoying.
Icelandic sagas
The
bottom role in male homosexuality was viewed as dishonourable (
ergi) in Scandinavian society.
In the
Sturlunga saga,
Guðmundr takes captive a man and his wife, and plans for both the woman and the man to be raped as a means of sexual humiliation (Sørenson 82, 111; Sturlunga saga, I, 201). The term
klámhogg "shame-stroke" inflicted on defeated enemies was regarded as on a par with castration or a wound to the brain, abdomen, or marrow, and Sørenson (68) suggests that the term refers to rape. There is ample documentation of the practice of alleging homosexuality as a severe insult. The Icelandic
Grágás condoned violence in retaliation for abuse alleging homosexuality.
The term
argaskattr in the 14th century
Moðruvallabók, "payment made to an
argr man", seems to imply the existence of
male prostitution (Sørenson, 34-35)
Ergi and seiðr
Accusing a man of practicing
seiðr, implied
effeminacy or sexual perversion.
Odin himself was taunted for practicing seiðr, by
Loki in the
Lokasenna. Loki is considered the northern equivalent of the
trickster, taking the female role in the encounter with the giant's stallion in the
Gylfaginning. In the encounter, he was mare enough to have offspring from the stallion, while likening a man to a mare seems to have been one of the most offensive ways of accusing him of
ergi.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ergi'.
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