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prettygoodwordniddering - n., a coward, a wretch.
This would be completely obsolete were it not for Sir Walter Scott having popularized it, at least among those who read (and write like) his books. The word is actually supposed to be nithing, but it changed to niddering due to a misprint (whether printer's or author's is unclear to me) in a 1596 book by William of Malmesbury. Ultimate root is Old Norse niðingr, and has nothing to do with nothing, but rather nið, scorn.
---L.
This would be completely obsolete were it not for Sir Walter Scott having popularized it, at least among those who read (and write like) his books. The word is actually supposed to be nithing, but it changed to niddering due to a misprint (whether printer's or author's is unclear to me) in a 1596 book by William of Malmesbury. Ultimate root is Old Norse niðingr, and has nothing to do with nothing, but rather nið, scorn.
---L.
