Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1802-1820
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NICNEVIN, prop. n. Also nicneven. The name of a witch well-known in medieval Sc. folklore (Sc. 1808 Jam., 1935 D. A. Mackenzie Folk-Lore 150). [nɪk′ni:vən]Sc. 1802 Scott Minstrelsy II. 198:
The fairy queen is identified, in popular tradition, with the Gyre-Carline, or mother witch, of the Scottish peasantry. She is sometimes termed Nicneven.Sc. 1820 Scott Abbot xxvi.:
For a' that folk said about the skill and witcheries of Mother Nicneven, he would put his trust in God. . . . She was no common spaewife, this Mother Nicneven. . . . She had lords and lairds that would ruffle for her. Note. — This was the name given to the grand Mother Witch, the very Hecate of Scottish popular superstition. Her name was bestowed, in one or two instances, upon sorceresses, who were held to resemble her by their superior skill in “Hell's black grammar”.
