The Níðingr and the Wolf

This article presents a cognitive model associated with the Old Norse concept of the níðingr. It is argued that the socially disruptive nature of the níðingr is associated with divine wrath, which again entails expulsion and misfortune. These ideas are primarily investigated in Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar and the Christian legal formulas Tryggðamál and Griðamál, and it is suggested that the archaic ‘níðingr model’ was adapted to Christian frames of reference after the conversion.