Ergi (noun) andargr (adjective) are twoOld Norse terms ofinsult, denotingeffeminacy or other unmanly behaviour.Argr (alsoragr) is "unmanly" andergi is "unmanliness"; the terms have cognates in otherGermanic languages such asearh,earg,arag, orarug.
To accuse another man of beingargr was calledscolding (seenīþ) and thus a legal reason to challenge the accuser inhólmganga.[1] Ifhólmganga was refused by the accused, he could be outlawed (fulloutlawry) as this refusal proved that the accuser was right and the accused wasargr. Being proven to be an ergi or niðing was generally punished by becoming an outlaw in surviving law codes.[2] If the accused fought successfully inhólmganga and had thus proven that he was notargr, thescolding was considered what was inOld English calledeacan, an unjustified, severe defamation, and the accuser had to pay the offended party full compensation. TheGray Goose Laws 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 anotherragr,stroðinn orsorðinn. As they are to be prosecuted like otherfullréttisorð 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 has 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.[3]
The three words in the Grey Goose Laws that were regarded as equal toargr referred to the passive role of a man in sexual activities, being womanly, and being subservient.[4] Another semantic belonging toargr,ragr andergi was, from theGray Goose, "being a sorcerer's friend";ergi and its derivatives are often attested in the context ofseiðr, as inYnglinga saga.[5] Some of the association between seiðr and ergi may have been that seiðr was seen as a woman's activity, which included prominent references to other gendered activities (such asweaving). Even respected men who took up seiðr might be insulted in connection to the idea of ergi, as Odin was in the Edda.[6] While seiðr was often viewed negatively in surviving literature, all this literature comes from after Christianity took root in the region these terms and practices existed. There is an observable trend of increasing negativity in this literature as well. Together, these mean sieðr- and correspondingly, those called ergi- may not have been viewed negatively in pre-Christian northern Europe.[7]
The negativity towards ergi do not indicate general homophobia was prevalent in Viking Age northern Europe. There are also no written records of how the northern people thought of homosexuality before societal conversion to Christianity. The sociologist David F. Greenberg points out:
at first...stigmatization did not extend to active male homosexuality. To take revenge on the disloyal priest Bjorn and his mistress Thorunnr in theGudmundar Saga "it was decided to put Thorunnr into bed with every buffoon, and to do that to Bjorn the priest, which was considered no less dishonorable." Dishonorable to Bjorn, not to his rapists. In theEdda, Sinfjotli insults Gudmundr by asserting that "all theeinherjar (Odin's warriors in Valhalla) fought with each other to win the love of Gudmundr (who was male)." Certainly he intended no aspersions on the honor of theeinherjar. Then Sinfjotli boasts that "Gundmundr was pregnant with nine wolf cubs and that he, Sinfjotli, was the father." Had the active male homosexual role been stigmatized, Sinfjotli would hardly have boasted of it.[8]
Ergi was associated not just with sorcery, unmanliness, weakness, andeffeminacy but also especially with lecherousness in the view of Old Scandinavian people during the Early and High Middle Ages.Ergi of females (feminine adjective:ǫrg) was defined as excessive lecherousness or promiscuity, and of males as perversity, effeminacy and the passive role withinsame-sex intercourse between men.[9]
Although no runic inscription uses the termergi,runestoneVg 67 in Saleby, Sweden, includes a curse that anyone breaking the stone would become arata, translated as a 'wretch', 'outcast', or 'warlock', andargri konu, which is translated as 'maleficent woman' in thedative.[10] Hereargri appears to be related to the practice ofseiðr[11] and represents the most loathsome term therunemaster could imagine calling someone.[12]
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In modern Scandinavian languages, the lexical rootarg- has assumed the meaning "angry", as inSwedish,Bokmål andNynorskarg, orDanisharrig. ModernIcelandic has thederivationergilegur, meaning "to seem/appear irritable", similar to Bokmålergre, meaning "to irritate". (There are similarities to theGermanärgerlich, "annoying, annoyed", andDutchergerlijk, "irritating" andergeren, "to irritate".) In modernFaroese theadjectiveargur means "angry/annoyed" and theverbarga means to "taunt" or "bully". In modern Dutch, the worderg has become a fortifier equivalent to Englishvery; the same is true for the old-fashioned adjectivearg in German, which means "wicked" (especially in compounds asarglistig "malicious" andarglos "unsuspecting"), but has become a fortifier in theAustrian German. The meaning of the word in Old Norse has been preserved in loans into neighboringFinnic languages:Livonian ārga,Estonianarg andFinnisharka, both meaning "cowardly".
Some people involved in Heathenry use "ergi" as either an insult for queer men, male seiðr practitioners, or those perceived as "unmanly". Correspondingly, some male seiðr practitioners have reclaimed the word ergi. One male seiðr practitioner from Scotland who was interviewed by researchers noted that "ergi" was still used where he lived by the general public to refer to a man perceived as cowardly.[7]
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