ergi

''' (noun) and (adjective) are two Old Norse terms of insult, denoting effeminacy or other unmanly behaviour. ' (also '') is "unmanly" and ergi'' is "unmanliness"; the terms have cognates in other Germanic languages such as ', ', arag, or arug.

==Ergi in the Viking Age== To accuse another man of being '' was called scolding (see ) and thus a legal reason to challenge the accuser in hólmganga. If hólmganga was refused by the accused, he could be outlawed (full outlawry) as this refusal proved that the accuser was right and the accused was . Being proven to be an ergi or niðing was generally punished by becoming an outlaw in surviving law codes. If the accused fought successfully in hólmganga and had thus proven that he was not , the scolding'' was considered what was in Old English called ', an unjustified, severe defamation, and the accuser had to pay the offended party full compensation. The Gray Goose Laws states: