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The neck, nicor, or nixie or nokken (; ; ; ) are shapeshifting water spirits in Germanic mythology and folklore who usually appeared in forms of other creatures. Under a variety of names, they were common to the stories of all Germanic peoples,〔The article ''Näcken'', (tome 20, p. 317 ), in ''Nordisk familjebok'' (1914)〕 although they are perhaps best known from Scandinavian folklore. The related English knucker was generally depicted as a wyrm or dragon, although more recent versions depict the spirits in other forms. Their sex, bynames, and various transformations vary geographically. The German ''Nix'' and his Scandinavian counterparts were males. The German ''Nixe'' was a female river mermaid.〔 ==Names and etymology== The names are held to derive from Common Germanic '' *nikwus'' or '' *nikwis(i)'', derived from PIE '' *neigw'' ("to wash").〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Köbler, Gerhard: ''Indogermanisches Wörterbuch''. )〕 They are related to Sanskrit ''nḗnēkti'', Greek νίζω ''nízō'' and νίπτω ''níptō'', and Irish ''nigh'' (all meaning to wash or be washed).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=''Svensk etymologisk ordbok'', by Elof Hellquist (1922) Lund, C. W. K. Gleerups förlag Berlingska boktryckeriet. p. 532 )〕 The form ''neck'' appears in English and Swedish (''näck'' or ''nek'', meaning "nude").〔 The Swedish form is derived from Old Swedish ''neker'', which corresponds to Old Icelandic ''nykr'' (gen. ''nykrs''), and ''nykk'' in Norwegian Nynorsk.〔 In Finnish, the word is ''näkki''. In Old Danish, the form was ''nikke'' and in modern Danish and Norwegian Bokmål it is ''nøkk''.〔 The Icelandic ''nykur'' is a horselike creature. In Middle Low German, it was called ''necker'' and in Middle Dutch ''nicker'' (c.f. also ''Nickel'' or ''Nikkel'' plus ''Kobolt'') .〔 The Old High German form ''nihhus'' also meant "crocodile",〔〔 while the Old English ''nicor''〔〔 could mean both a "water monster" and a "hippopotamus".〔 The Norwegian ''Fossegrim'' and Swedish ''Strömkarlen'' are related figures sometimes seen as by-names for the same creature.〔 The Scandinavian version can transform himself into a horse-like ''kelpie'', and is called a ''Bäckahästen'' (the "brook horse"), whilst the Welsh version is called the Ceffyl Dŵr (the "water horse"). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Neck (water spirit)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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