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55-608: A geis or geas (pl. geasa ) is an idiosyncratic taboo , whether of obligation or prohibition, similar to being under a vow or curse , yet the observance of which can also bring power and blessings. It is also used to mean specifically a spell prohibiting some action. Geasa are common in Irish and Scottish folklore and mythology, as well as in modern English-language fantasy fiction. The word originates in Old Irish, also known as Old Gaelic , and retains

110-513: A curse or paradoxically a gift. If someone under a geas violates the associated taboo, the infractor will suffer dishonor or even death. Conversely, the observing of one's geas is believed to bring power. Often, women place geasa upon men; in some cases, the woman turns out to be a goddess or other sovereignty figure. The geas is often a key device in hero tales, such as that of Cú Chulainn in Irish mythology . Traditionally,

165-465: A systematic regularity . While systematic regularities in the sound system of a language are useful for identifying phonological rules during analysis of the forms morphemes can take, idiosyncratic properties are those whose occurrence is not determined by those rules. For example, the fact that the English word cab starts with the sound /k/ is an idiosyncratic property; on the other hand that its vowel

220-630: A bride and groom escape a barbaric marriage custom in Ireland. According to the British scholar W.D. Howarth, Cervantes was inspired by Peruvian marriage ceremonies and what is described is different from the classic version of the droit du seigneur as it involves multiple virgins. However, Cervantes' story was a source for the English play The Custom of the Country , written by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger and published in 1647. The play has

275-430: A complete market in which the capital asset pricing model holds, the price of a security is determined by the amount of systematic risk in its returns. Net income received, or losses suffered, by a landlord from renting of one or two properties is subject to idiosyncratic risk due to the numerous things that can happen to real property and variable behavior of tenants. According to one macroeconomic model including

330-443: A financial sector, hedging idiosyncratic risk can be self-defeating as amid the "risk reduction" experts are encouraged to increase their leverage. This works for small shocks but leads to higher vulnerability for larger shocks and makes the system less stable. Thus, while securitisation in principle reduces the costs of idiosyncratic shocks, it ends up amplifying systemic risks in equilibrium. In econometrics , "idiosyncratic error"

385-459: A following of one's particular temperament or bent especially in trait, trick, or habit; the former often suggests mental aberration, the latter, strong individuality and independence of action". The term can also be applied to symbols or words. Idiosyncratic symbols mean one thing for a particular person, as a blade could mean war , but to someone else, it could symbolize a surgery . In phonology , an idiosyncratic property contrasts with

440-436: A payment for the droit du seigneur to be waived. Alternatively, it has been interpreted as compensation to the lord for the young women leaving his lands. Encyclopædia Britannica states that the evidence indicates it was a monetary tax related to vassal marriages, since a considerable number of seigneurial rights revolved around marriage. A similar payment to church authorities has also been interpreted as relating to

495-617: A polemic against medieval barbarism. Other Scottish scholars of his era quoted Boece with approval, including John Lesley (1578), George Buchanan (1582), and Habbakuk Bisset (1626). The historical existence of the custom in Scotland was also accepted in Scottish legal works such as James Balfour 's Practicks ( c.  1579 ), John Skene 's De Verborum (1597), and Thomas Craig 's Jus Feudale (1603). The English scholar Henry Spelman stated in his Glossary (1664) that

550-482: A riverbank sheltered by a roof and put one foot on a goat, and so on, thus enabling the conditions that allowed him to be wounded. Geas , geis and derivative words and concepts have appeared in a variety of forms in popular culture. In Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End , Governor Weatherby Swann was going to stab the heart of Davy Jones , only for Jones to reveal that he cast

605-518: A similar custom among the Adyrmachidae in ancient Libya : "They are also the only tribe with whom the custom obtains of bringing all women about to become brides before the king, that he may choose such as are agreeable to him." When the plebeians of the Etruscan city of Volsinii rebelled against the aristocrats in 280 BC, "They took their wives for themselves and placed the daughters of

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660-417: A specific security, as opposed to the overall market, are called "idiosyncratic risks". This specific risk, also called unsystematic, can be nulled out of a portfolio through diversification. Pooling multiple securities means the specific risks cancel out. In complete markets , there is no compensation for idiosyncratic risk—that is, a security's idiosyncratic risk does not matter for its price. For instance, in

715-688: A terrible geis upon his heart when he carved it from his body, that if someone stabs the heart then theirs will take its place. The line was cut from the film, but the geis remains in place as the curse of the Flying Dutchman . With the help of Jack Sparrow , Will Turner stabs the heart and becomes the new captain of the Dutchman . Geasa are widely used in Charles Stross 's Laundry Files series, especially employed by The Laundry (Britain's secret government agency tasked with protecting

770-406: Is equally afraid of losing his authority if he does not. The druid Cathbad suggests a solution: Conchobar sleeps with Emer on the night of the wedding, but Cathbad sleeps between them. The biography of Gerald of Aurillac written by Odo of Cluny (879–942) gives an account of the young nobleman demanding to rape one of his serfs, only to have the act averted by a miracle , sending Gerald on

825-404: Is high. Type B reactions are most commonly immunological (e.g. penicillin allergy). The word is used for the personal way a given individual reacts, perceives and experiences: a certain dish made of meat may cause nostalgic memories in one person and disgust in another. These reactions are called idiosyncratic . In portfolio theory , risks of price changes due to the unique circumstances of

880-476: Is longer than in the English word cap is a systematic regularity, as it arises from the fact that the final consonant is voiced rather than voiceless. Idiosyncrasy defined the way physicians conceived diseases in the 19th century. They considered each disease as a unique condition, related to each patient. This understanding began to change in the 1870s, when discoveries made by researchers in Europe permitted

935-574: Is used to describe error—that is, unobserved factors that impact the dependent variable—from panel data that both changes over time and across units (individuals, firms, cities, towns, etc.) Droit du seigneur Droit du seigneur ('right of the lord'), also known as jus primae noctis ('right of the first night'), sometimes referred to as prima nocta , was a supposed legal right in medieval Europe , allowing feudal lords to have sexual relations with any female subject, particularly on her wedding night. There are many references to

990-721: The Recueil d'arrêts notables des cours souveraines de France of the French lawyer and author Jean Papon . The French writer Antoine du Verdier also commented on it in 1577. The French philosopher Montesquieu referred to the practice in The Spirit of the Laws (1748), saying that it had been enforced in France over three nights. Voltaire mentioned the practice in his Dictionnaire philosophique , published in 1764. He wrote

1045-644: The droit du seigneur . However, according to British scholar W. D. Howarth, the Catholic Church at some times prohibited consummation of a marriage on the first night. The payment was for an indulgence from the church to waive this prohibition. In the Wooing of Emer in Irish mythology the King Conchobar has the droit du seigneur over all marriages of his subjects. He is afraid of Cú Chulainn 's reaction if he exercises it in this case, but

1100-542: The geas placed on him by his mother, he refuses to identify himself, which leads to his own father, Cú Chulainn, killing him in single combat using the Gáe Bulg before recognising too late who he is. He then introduces his dying son to the men of Ulster as a fitting hero. A geas might appear beneficial by involving a prophecy that a person would die in a particular way so bizarre that they could then avoid their fate for many years. As with Conaire Mór , though, in

1155-564: The Encyclopædia Britannica and the Larousse encyclopedias dramatically changed their opinion on the topic, moving from acceptance to rejection of the historical veracity of the idea. French writer Louis Veuillot wrote a book in 1854 disputing its existence. After an exhaustive historical study, German jurist Karl Schmidt concluded in 1881 that it was a scholarly misconception. After Schmidt, many of those who believed in

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1210-458: The Celtic scholar Whitley Stokes said that the existence of the practice was "evidenced though not proved" to have existed in Ireland. In 1930, Scottish legal scholar Hector McKechnie concluded, based on historical evidence, that the practice had existed in Scotland in early times. Italian scholar Paolo Mantegazza , in his 1935 book The Sexual Relations of Mankind , said that while not a law, it

1265-616: The Geis of the king. Whether this right actually existed and was exercised by the Celts is not attested outside the sagas. It is similar to the droit du seigneur of feudal Europe. Considerable similarity exists between the Goidelic geasa and the Brythonic tynged . This is not surprising given the close origins of many of the variants of Celtic mythology . For example,

1320-523: The Jurchens. A historian has speculated that this could mean that in Jurchen upper classes, only a husband had the right to his married wife while among lower class Jurchens, unmarried girls' virginity and sleeping with Liao Khitan men did not matter and did not impede their ability to marry later. The Jurchens' sexual habits and mores seemed lax to Han Chinese , such as marrying with an in-law, which

1375-743: The Liao envoys who had sex with the girls. Song envoys among the Jin were similarly entertained by singing girls in Guide, Henan. Although the Liao Khitan had superior power over the Jurchens when ruling them, there is no evidence that guest prostitution of unmarried Jurchen girls to Khitan men was hated or resented by the Jurchens. It was only when the Liao Khitan forced aristocratic Jurchen families to give up their beautiful wives as guest prostitutes to Liao Khitan messengers that this stirred resentment and anger by

1430-515: The Scottish historian Hector Boece wrote that the "right" had existed in Scotland until abolished by Malcolm III ( r. 1058–93) under the influence of his wife, Margaret (later St Margaret of Scotland ). The payment of merchet was instituted in its place. Boece attributed the law to a legendary king , Ewen or Evenus III. The modern French scholar Alain Boureau says that Boece probably invented King Ewen, but he views this as mythology, not as

1485-406: The Scottish legal scholar David Maxwell Walker , instances have been recorded of the jus primæ noctis being claimed up to the 18th century. Walker concluded that it is possible that the jus existed as a custom in Scotland, dependent on the attitude of the king, and survived longer in remote regions. After their travels in Scotland in 1773, Samuel Johnson and James Boswell documented

1540-455: The Welsh hero Lleu Llaw Gyffes (in one version of his story) was destined to die neither "during the day or night, nor indoors or outdoors, neither riding nor walking, not clothed and not naked, nor by any weapon lawfully made." He was safe until his wife, Blodeuwedd , learning of these foretold conditions, convinced him to show her how he could theoretically be stepping out of a river onto

1595-548: The advent of a "scientific medicine", a precursor to the evidence-based medicine that is the standard of practice today. The term idiosyncratic drug reaction denotes an aberrant or bizarre reaction or hypersensitivity to a substance, without connection to the pharmacology of the drug. It is what is known as a Type B reaction. Type B reactions have the following characteristics: they are usually unpredictable, might not be picked up by toxicological screening, not necessarily dose-related, incidence and morbidity low but mortality

1650-445: The classic version of the "right of first night" with money payment as an alternative. According to Howarth, this suggests that droit du seigneur was a familiar notion to people at that time, which he traces back to Boece. In modern times, Zaire 's president Mobutu Sese Seko appropriated the droit de seigneur when traveling around the country, where local chiefs offered him virgins. The term has also been used to describe

1705-469: The coupling with favor. This is because the girl might conceive the chief's child and be allowed to keep it. Scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries gave the historical basis of the "right of first night" a good deal of attention. Historians David M. Walker and Hector McKechnie wrote that the right might have existed in medieval Europe, but other historians have concluded that it is a myth, and that all references to it are from later periods. Over time,

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1760-526: The custom had existed in Scotland, but not in England. The English jurist William Blackstone cited Boece's statement in his Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769), while similarly noting that the custom had never existed in England. In 1776, the Scottish jurist David Dalrymple disputed the existence of the custom, arguing Boece's account was purely legendary, but his position was often seen as based on Scottish patriotism . However, according to

1815-586: The custom of the payment of merchet, linking it with the "right of first night". They paralleled it with that custom of Borough English , suggesting that the English custom favored the youngest son because the paternity of the eldest son was doubtful. Sir Walter Scott mentioned the custom in his historical Scottish novel, The Fair Maid of Perth (1828). The Spanish novel Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda ("The Travails of Persiles and Sigismunda", 1617) by Miguel de Cervantes contains an episode where

1870-446: The custom throughout the centuries. The French expression droit du seigneur translates as "right of the lord", but modern French usage prefers droit de jambage ( French: [dʁwa d(ə) ʒɑ̃baʒ] , from jambe , 'leg') or, more commonly, droit de cuissage ( French: [dʁwa d(ə) kɥisaʒ] , from cuisse , 'thigh'). The term is often used synonymously with jus primae noctis , Latin for "right of

1925-430: The doom of heroes comes about due to their violation of their geas either by accident or by having multiple geasa , which then come into conflict. For instance, Cú Chulainn has a geas to never eat dog meat, and he is also bound by a geas to eat any food offered to him by a woman. When a hag offers him dog meat, he has no way to emerge from the situation unscathed; this leads to his death. In some cases,

1980-459: The efforts of the unfaithful Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna. To achieve his aim, the frustrated Count threatens to reinstitute droit du seigneur . It was based on a play of the same title by Pierre Beaumarchais . The Acta Sanctorum ("Acts of the Saints"), published from 1643 onwards, mentions the jus primæ noctis in the hagiographies of St Margaret and St Forannan . In 1527,

2035-520: The existence of the custom based their opinions on anthropological studies of tribal societies, though according to W. D. Howarth, this was a misguided argument because of the disparity between the tribal societies and medieval European society. In The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State in 1884, socialist Friedrich Engels argued it was real and had an anthropological origin. In 1910,

2090-509: The first night". In the Epic of Gilgamesh , Gilgamesh is described as having practiced a similar custom: "He is king, he does whatever he wants... takes the girl from her mother and uses her, the warrior's daughter, the young man's bride." His first meeting with his friend Enkidu is an attempt at one of these acts where Enkidu manages to stop him in a great contest of strength between the two champions. The Greek historian Herodotus mentions

2145-471: The five-act comedy Le droit du seigneur or L'écueil du sage in 1762, although it was not performed until 1779, after his death. This play was the first time the term droit du seigneur was used. In 19th-century France, a number of writers made other claims about the supposed power of the overlords during the Ancien Régime , such as the droit de ravage (right of ravage; providing to

2200-408: The four humors " ( temperament ) or literally "particular mingling". Idiosyncrasy is sometimes used as a synonym for eccentricity , as these terms "are not always clearly distinguished when they denote an act, a practice, or a characteristic that impresses the observer as strange or singular." Eccentricity, however, "emphasizes the idea of divergence from the usual or customary; idiosyncrasy implies

2255-427: The hands of Éowyn and Meriadoc , one a shieldmaiden of Rohan , and thus not a man but a woman, and the other a hobbit , and thus not a Man as in species. Idiosyncrasy The term "idiosyncrasy" originates from Greek ἰδιοσυγκρασία idiosynkrasía , "a peculiar temperament, habit of body" (from ἴδιος idios , "one's own", σύν syn , "with" and κρᾶσις krasis , "blend of

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2310-418: The lord the right to devastate fields of his own domain), and the droit de prélassement (right of lounging; it was said that a lord had the right to disembowel his serfs to warm his feet in). In Mozart 's The Marriage of Figaro , which premiered in 1786 with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte , the comic plot revolves around the successful efforts of the young bride and groom, Susanna and Figaro, to block

2365-565: The nobles under the jus primæ noctis , while all their former masters on whom they could lay hands were tortured to death." It is also mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud , Tractate Ketubot 3b תיבעל להגמון (tibael lehegmon), regarding a decree imposed on the Jewish community by a Syrian-Greek ruler, in which all Jewish brides were taken before their wedding. The medieval marriage fine or merchet has sometimes been interpreted as

2420-471: The placing of a geas can lead to tragedy even when it is not violated. Aoife imposed three geasa on Connla , her son with Cú Chulainn: he cannot turn back once he starts his journey; he must not refuse a challenge; and he must never tell anyone his name. She then sent Connla, aged seven, to seek out his father, but he was a child of such extraordinary skill that he was seen as a threat after having defeated all Ulster heroes who met him. Because of

2475-493: The realm from supernatural threats) to enforce the loyalty and duty of its agents. Prohibitions and taboos similar to geasa are also found in more recent English literature , though they are not described as geasa in those texts. For example, in William Shakespeare 's play Macbeth , the title character believes he is safe because "no man of woman born shall harm Macbeth". However, his nemesis Macduff

2530-401: The road to sainthood. American historian Vern Bullough suggested that this illustrates that such behaviour was commonplace in the period, and that the "legend [of droit du seigneur ] reflected the reality". In the 14th-century French epic poem Baudouin de Sebourc , a tyrannical lord claims the jus primae noctis unless he receives part of the bride's dowry. The supposed right

2585-578: The same form in Modern Irish ( nominative singular geis /ɟɛʃ/ , nom. plural geasa /ˈɟasˠə/ ; genitive sg. geise /ˈɟɛʃə/ , gen. pl. geas /ɟasˠ/ ). In modern Scottish Gaelic , the spelling has evolved in a slightly different direction (nom. sg. geas /kʲes/ , nom. pl. geasan , gen. sg. geis or geasa ). It has also been borrowed into English in both forms (sg. geas or geis /ɡɛʃ/ or /ˈɡi.əʃ/ , pl. geasa )). A geas can be compared with

2640-685: The sexual exploitation of slaves in the United States . As late as the 19th century, some Kurdish chieftains in Anatolia raped Armenian brides on their wedding night (part of what was then known as the khafir or hafir system). In the Hawaiian Islands , the privilege for chiefs was often observed, according to " Sexual Behavior in Pre Contact Hawai'i " by Milton Diamond . A young girl's parents viewed

2695-402: The situation by exiling them, his fate intervenes, so the remaining geasa are involuntarily and accidentally broken one after the other with a sense of gathering doom that cannot be checked. In the Irish saga of Conchobar mac Nessa , the king is said to have the right to the first night with any marriageable woman and the right to sleep with the wife of anyone who hosted him. This is called

2750-430: The tale of Togail Bruidne Dá Derga , who strictly observed a number of geasa , a small unconnected infraction can escalate to one's undoing. By initially making exceptions to crimes of stealing by his foster-brothers contravening fír flathemon , the king's upholding of true judgement, things proceed until they deliberately contravene a geis of Conaire's against marauding in his reign. Though he tries to rectify

2805-587: Was "from his mother's womb untimely ripp'd" (i.e., born by Caesarean section ), and was therefore not "of woman born". Another example is the Witch-King of Angmar from Tolkien's legendarium , who has a geas -like prophecy described by the Elven hero, Glorfindel : "Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of man shall he fall." The meaning is then quite literal, for the Witch-king eventually falls at

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2860-697: Was abolished by Ferdinand II of Aragon in Article 9 of the Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe in 1486. Before the Jurchens overthrew their Khitan rulers, married Jurchen women and Jurchen girls were raped by Liao dynasty Khitan envoys as a custom which caused resentment by the Jurchens against the Khitan. Liao Khitan envoys among the Jurchens were treated to guest prostitutes by their Jurchen hosts. Unmarried Jurchen girls and their families hosted

2915-488: Was demanding the payment of merchet , not the right of first night, but others disagree. The English lexicographer Thomas Blount recorded the "right" as a medieval custom of some English manors in Fragmenta Antiquitatis in 1679. The Curiosities of Literature (1823) by the British writer Isaac D'Israeli stated the practice had been widespread across Europe. The right was mentioned in 1556 in

2970-467: Was one of China's " Ten Heinous Crimes ". Jurchens very commonly practiced guest prostitution, giving female companions, food and shelter to guests. Unmarried daughters of Jurchen families of lower and middle classes in native Jurchen villages were provided to Liao Khitan messengers for sexual intercourse as recorded by Hong Hao (Hung Hao). Marco Polo also reported that in Hami (Camul), guest prostitution

3025-404: Was practiced with hosts giving their female relatives, sisters, daughters and wives to guests in their house. Tanguts practiced this guest prostitution. In Shakespeare's play Henry VI, Part 2 ( c.  1591 ) the rebel Jack Cade proclaims: "there shall not a maid be married, but she shall pay to me her maidenhead ere they have it". According to the French scholar Alain Boureau, Cade

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