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Niddering
Definitions
- 1 Synonym of nithing (“cowardly, dastardly; notoriously evil or wicked; infamous”). archaic
"I require of thee, as a man of thy word, on pain of being held faithless, man-sworn, and nidering [footnote: Infamous], to forgive and to receive to thy paternal affection the good knight, Wilfrid of Ivanhoe."
- 1 Synonym of nithing (“a coward, a dastard; a wretch”). archaic
"[O]n the bodies of his fallen foes he kicked the gray road dust, and spat on them and named them churls and nidderings and unfit wearers of the mail of men of war."
Etymology
A variant of nithing, resulting from the letter eth (ð) in Early Middle English niðing in the writings of the English historian William of Malmesbury (c. 1095 – c. 1143) being mistaken for a d followed by a mark of suspension representing a letter that had been omitted as an abbreviation. This led to niðing being wrongly spelled as nidering in early printed versions of his works. The word was later popularized by the Scottish novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832).
A variant of nithing, resulting from the letter eth (ð) in Early Middle English niðing in the writings of the English historian William of Malmesbury (c. 1095 – c. 1143) being mistaken for a d followed by a mark of suspension representing a letter that had been omitted as an abbreviation. This led to niðing being wrongly spelled as nidering in early printed versions of his works. The word was later popularized by the Scottish novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832).
See also for "niddering"
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