One of my most learned Facebook acquaintances just posted this slightly astounding factoid...
Holy shitsnacking goatmonkeys! I found the Origin of those Knights of Ni! (And who have so recently started saying Ekke.)
"In their proscriptions against various kinds of verbal and other insults, the thirteenth-century Icelandic law codes known as Grágás include, alongside the well known category of níð, the more obscure term ýki... 'No man is to make verbal níð or wooden níð about another. But if he becomes known for that, and it is proved that he has done it, then he incurs outlawry'" (Finlay, 2001, pp.21,22).
Finlay, A. (2001). Monstrous Allegations: An Exchange of ýki in Bjarnar saga Hítdœlakappa. Alvíssmál, 10, 21-44.