Nicnevin


Nicneven, Nicnevin or Nicnevan of the divine," and/or "daughter, is a Queen of the Fairies in Scottish folklore.

Etymology

In Ireland and Scotland, "the Feile na Marbh",, takes place on Samhain. The names Nicneven, Satia, Bensozie, Zobiana, Abundia, and Herodiana were all used to identify the Scottish Witch Goddess of Samhain. This name was first found in Montgomerie’s Flyting, and was seemingly taken from a woman in Scotland condemned to death for witchcraft before she was burnt at the stake as a witch. In the Borders the name for this archetype was Gyre-Carling. Gyre is possibly a cognate of the Norse word geri and thus has the meaning "greedy," or it may be from the Norse gýgr meaning "ogress"; carling or carline is a Scots and Northern English word meaning "old woman" which is from, or related to, the Norse word kerling.

Legend

She was sometimes thought of as the mother witch, Hecate, or a Habundia figure of Scottish fairy mythology. This guise is frankly diabolical. Sir Walter Scott calls her:
Alexander Montgomerie, in his Flyting, described her as:

Nicnevin with her nymphes, in number anew
With charms from Caitness and Chanrie of Ross
Whose cunning consists in casting a clew.
The elder Nicnevin retained the habit of night-riding with an "elrich" entourage mounted on unlikely and supernatural steeds. Another satirical popular depiction made her leave Scotland after a love-quarrel with her neighbour, to become wife of "Mahomyte" and queen of the "Jowis." She was an enemy of Christian people, and "levit vpoun Christiane menis flesche;" still, her absence caused dogs to stop barking and hens to stop laying. But in Fife, the Gyre-Carling was associated with spinning and knitting, like Habetrot; there it was believed to be unlucky to leave a piece of knitting unfinished at the New Year, lest the Gyre-Carling steal it.