Ergi

Ergi (noun) and argr (adjective) are two Old Norse terms of insult, denoting effeminacy or other unmanly behavior. Argr (also ragr) is "unmanly" and ergi is "unmanliness"; the terms have cognates in other Germanic languages such as earh, earg, arag, arug, and so on.

Ergi in the Viking Age

To accuse another man of being argr was called scolding (see "nīþ"), and thus a legal reason to challenge the accuser in holmgang. If holmgang was refused by the accused, he could be outlawed (full outlawry), as this refusal proved that the accuser was right and the accused was argr (= unmanly, cowardly). If the accused fought successfully in holmgang and had thus proven that he was not argr, the scolding was considered what was in Old English called eacan, an unjustified, severe defamation, and the accuser had to pay the offended party full compensation. The Gray Goose Laws states:

The practice of seiðr (sorcery) was considered ergi in the Viking Age, and in Icelandic accounts and medieval Scandinavian laws, the term argr had connotations of a receptive, passive role of a freeborn man during homosexual intercourse. There are no written records of how the northern people thought of homosexuality before this conversion. The Historian Greenberg points out:

Ivan Ergić

Ivan Ergić (Serbian Cyrillic: Иван Ергић) is a Serbianfootballer who plays as a midfielder.

Born in Croatia and raised in Australia, he began his career at Perth Glory and was briefly with Juventus before moving to Switzerland's FC Basel in 2001, where he played 202 league matches. He left in 2009 for Bursaspor, where he spent two seasons, winning the Turkish Süper Lig in the first.

Ergić was a member of Serbia & Montenegro's squad at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and earned 11 international caps between 2006 and 2008.

Club career

Perth Glory

Ergić was born in the Croatian coastal town of Šibenik, and lived in the village of Gaćelezi. However, he moved to Perth, Western Australia at an early age and trained at the Australian Institute of Sport on a government-funded football scholarship. He started his football career with Perth Glory in 1999 and helped the club finish runners-up during the 1999–2000 season.

Basel

In 2000, Ergić moved to Italian giants Juventus, but went on loan to FC Basel of Switzerland during the season. He later signed for FCB for CHF1.6 million. He was given the captaincy when Pascal Zuberbühler left in 2006, but in 2008 he resigned from being captain and handed it over to his teammate, Franco Costanzo. He played his 150th first-team game for Basel on 10 May 2008 against BSC Young Boys at St. Jakob-Park. Basel won the game 2–0, which resulted in them becoming Champions. On 16 June 2009, he was released by FC Basel after newly hired manager Thorsten Fink decided not to offer him a new contract. He spent nine years at the club and played over 200 matches.