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"Nið"?

[edit]

Does "Nið-" in this instance, the 'river nid", mean what it ("Nið") does in Old Norse?; 'scorn', 'reprehensible' etc... 'the river scorn'? Seems rather odd, 'the beautiful river scorn', heh, but it means what it means unless "Nið" has another meaning, pronunciation etc.? :-? 4.255.48.153 (talk) 02:30, 15 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]


Not an uncommon mistake that, but unlike what one might think the name does not come from "níð", it comes from "niðr" which means down. --95.34.38.161 (talk) 07:37, 9 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

But both https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nidelva_(Agder)#Navnet and https://snl.no/Nidelva_-_Aust-Agder claim that's not clear cut, in addition to Norse niðr 'down' it might also be from Gothic nidwa, 'rust', Latin nitere, 'shine', or the PIE root, *nid, 'stream/float'. --Unhammer (talk) 19:01, 9 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]