niddering

/ˈnɪdəɹɪŋ/

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).

Why this word is great

NIDDERING — [Adjective] Cowardly, dastardly, or notoriously evil or wicked; infamous. A variant of 'nithing', resulting from the letter eth (ð) in Early Middle English 'niðing' being mistaken for a 'd' followed by a mark of suspension, leading to the erroneous spelling 'nidering' in early printed works, later popularized by Sir Walter Scott. Unlike 'craven' (which cowers in pure fear) or 'dastardly' (which slinks in treachery), niddering is the gutless malice of the backstabber who flees his own crime, the petty tyrant who bullies the weak but trembles before equals, the coward whose very name curdles in the throat of history. It is the stench of unearned power, the chill of a shadow that vanishes when confronted—proof that some evils are not bold, but small, and thus all the harder to root out.

adj

Synonym of nithing (“cowardly, dastardly; notoriously evil or wicked; infamous”).“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.”

noun

Synonym of nithing (“a coward, a dastard; a wretch”).“[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.”