_Nievie-nick-nack._--A fire-side game, well known in Scotland; described by
Jamieson, Chambers, and (last, though not least) John M^cTaggart. The
following version differs from that given by them:--
"Nievie, nievie, nick, neck,
Whilk han will thou tak?
Tak the richt, or tak the wrang,
I'll beguile thee if I can."
It is alluded to by Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan's_, iii. 102.; _Blackwood's
Magazine_, August, 1821, p. 37.
Rabelais mentions _a la nicnoque_ as one of the games played by Guargantua.
This is rendered by Urquhart _Nivinivinack: Transl._, p. 94. Jamieson
(_Supp. to Scot. Dict._, sub voce) adds:
"The first part of the word seems to be from _Neive_, {180} the fist
being employed in the game. Shall we view _nick_ as allied to the E.
_v._ signifying 'to touch luckily'?"
Now, there is no such seeming derivation in the first part of the word. The
_Neive_, though employed in the game, is not the object addressed. It is
held out to him who is to guess--the conjuror--_and it is he who is
addressed_, and under a conjuring name. In short (to hazard a wide
conjecture, it may be), he is invoked in the person of NIC NEVILLE (_Neivie
Nic_), a sorcerer in the days of James VI., who was burnt at St. Andrew's
in 1569. If I am right, a curious testimony is furnished to his quondam
popularity among the common people:
"From that he past to Sanctandrois, where a notable sorceres callit
_Nic Neville_ was condamnit to the death and brynt," &c. &c.--_The
Historie and Life of King Jame the Sext_, p. 40. Edin. 1825. Bannatyne
Club Ed.