After reading through the Battlespire walkthrough on TIL, I came to expect daedra to call mortals things like meatsack, fleshling, etc. I noticed today that UESP had a list of exclamations for Dremora. Some things didn't surprise me ("Burst, bloodsack!" and "Beg, birthskin!") but then I saw a couple that made me curious: "Back, nithing!" and "On your belly, nikyn" and "Weep, fettlekyn!"

Apparently fettle can mean the physical condition of a thing. So that one's not too surprising. But "nithing" and "nikyn" are of particular interest to me.

Any thoughts on them?

When I see ni- I immediately gravitate to the word nil. Why would a daedroth associate a mortal with zero? Interestingly, from the ever-glorious wikipedia's delving into the subject, ni- could also mean such things as I and WE. I ARE ALL WE? Zero-sum. CHIM?

Do the daedra associate mortals with the great Endeavor?

Ah crap. Hey Morrowind Mod forum buddies. I'll have this moved.

Old habits die hard, eh? Moving this to the lore section.

It is quite possible that these are, to some extent, plays on English words.

Nithing is Old English for 'villain'. 'Nith' itself meant envy, hatred, spite, wickedness or malice. Nikkienow is recorded as an obsolete Scots term of reproach in the English dialect dictionary. I can't make much sense of 'fettlekyn'. Fetelcyn would have meant 'kindred of the belt' in Old English. Northern forms of English still use 'fettle' to refer to rope made of straw or hay.

EDIT - this is likely my first ever post in the lore section.

Sorry, kid, it's what passes for law around here, nothing http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r105/Enoil/ImperialFishyStick.jpg:

Things that make you go hmmm...the irony of lore-incorrect http://www.fliggerty.com/phpBB3/images/smilies/Fishystick.jpg being handed out in the lore section... (Sorry for continuing hijack MD, I could not resist)

Imago Storm: Mortals are short-lived, ignorant, and feeble by contrast with the Daedra. But you mortals are also potent engines of change and innovation, of desperate and reckless improvisation and industry. Thus do we so prize the fruits of your mundane and arcane engineering. Thus do we bargain and plunder and steal to gain these treasures. We have lived too long, and grow dull and complacent. You live too short, and so are wonderfully sharp and inventive. Does that make sense?

From Battlespire…