Jotun

 

A Jotun, in Norse mythology, is a giant, one of a mythological race with superhuman strength, described as standing in opposition to the gods, although they frequently mingled with or were even married to these, both Æsir and Vanir. Their stronghold is known as Utgard, and is situated in Jötunheimr, one of the nine worlds of Norse cosmology, separated from Midgard, the world of men, by high mountains and dense forests. When living in worlds other than their own, they seem to prefer caves and dark places.

In Old Norse, they were called jötnar (sing. jötunn), or risar (sing. risi), in particular bergrisar, or þursar (sing. þurs), in particular hrímþursar ('rime-giant'). A giantess could also be known as a gýgr.

Jötunn (Proto-Germanic *etunaz) might have the same root as "eat" (Proto-Germanic *etan) and accordingly had the original meaning of "glutton" or "man-eater." Following the same logic, þurs^[1] might be derivative of "thirst" or "blood-thirst." Risi^[2] is probably akin to "rise," and so means "towering person" (akin to German Riese, Dutch reus, archaic Swedish rese, giant). The word "jotun" survives in modern Norwegian as giant (though more commonly called trolls), and has evolved into jätte and jætte in Swedish and Danish. In modern Icelandic jötunn has kept its original meaning. In Old English, the cognate to jötunn are eoten, whence modern English ettin. Old English also has the cognate þyrs of the same meaning. [1]

As according to Ynglingatal, Fundinn Noregr and Hversu Noregr byggdist, jötnar were from Finland, the word could also be derived from the Finnish word jätti - "giant".^{[citation needed]} A Finnish sea monster and possible god of war was called Tursas which may be related to the word þurs.

The connection between Old English word ent "giant", Old Norse jötunn "giant" and Finnish jätti "giant" is not certain, but it certainly does not seem too far fetched^{[citation needed]}, when it is remembered that Finno-Ugric languages are still spoken near the areas of the Tibetan language [2] and that Finnic languages were some of the earliest ones in the Scandinavian region. The Saami languages, also Finnic, have in their mythology jiettanas, which were man-eating people with several wives. They could be captured and eaten by humans, and their stomachs were filled with gold and silver. Whether or not this word came from Germanic languages is unknown.

"Þurisaz" is also the name of the rune ᚦ, which later evolved into the letter Þ.

Norse giants

Origins

The first living being formed in the primeval chaos known as Ginnungagap was a giant of monumental size, called Ymir. When he slept a giant son and a giantess daughter grew from his armpits, and his two feet procreated and gave birth to a monster with six heads. Supposedly, these three beings gave rise to the race of hrímþursar (rime giants or frost giants), who populated Niflheim, the world of mist, chill and ice. The gods instead claim their origin from a certain Búri. When the giant Ymir subsequently was slain by Odin, Vili and Vé (the grandsons of Búri), his blood (i.e. water) deluged Niflheim and killed all of the giants, apart from one known as Bergelmir and his spouse, who then repopulated their kind.

Character of the giants

The giants represent the forces of the primeval chaos and of the untamed, destructive nature. Their defeats by the hands of the gods represent the triumph of culture over nature, albeit at the cost of eternal vigilance. Heimdall perpetually watches the Bifröst bridge from Asgard to Midgard, and Thor being too heavy to cross the Bifrost Bridge often ventures into Jötunheimr to get to Midgard, slaying as many of the giants as he is able on the way.

As a collective, giants are often attributed a hideous appearance – claws, fangs, and deformed features, apart from a generally hideous size. Some of them may even have many heads, such as Thrivaldi who had nine of them, or an overall non-humanoid shape; so were Jörmungandr and Fenrir, two of the children of Loki, viewed as giants. With bad looks comes a weak intellect; the Eddas more than once liken their temper to that of children.

Yet when giants are named and more closely described, they are often given the opposite characteristics. Unbelievably old, they carry wisdom from bygone times. It is the giants Mímir and Vafþrúðnir Odin seeks out to gain this pro-cosmic knowledge. Many of the gods' spouses are giants. Njord is married to Skaði, Gerðr becomes the consort of Freyr, Odin gains the love of Gunnlod, and even Thor, the great slayer of their kind, breeds with Járnsaxa, mother of Magni. As such, they appear as minor gods themselves, which can also be said about the sea giant Ægir, far more connected to the gods than to the other giants occupying Jotunheim. None of these fear light, and in comfort their homes do not differ greatly from those of the gods.

Ragnarök and the fire giants

Main article: Ragnarök

A certain class of giants were the fire giants, said to reside in Muspelheim, the world of heat and fire, ruled by the fire giant Surtr ("the black one") and his queen Sinmore. Fornjót, the incarnation of fire, was another of their kind. The main role of the fire giants in Norse mythology is to wreak the final destruction of the world by setting fire to the world tree Yggdrasil at the end of Ragnarök, when the giants of Jotunheim and the forces of Hel shall launch an attack on the gods, and kill all but a few of them. During Ragnarök, the fire giants (or Muspeli) ride on great horses and burn Midgard killing all the people, some of the gods, and all the fire giants themselves except a man and a woman set by Odin in a great forest that did not burn down.

Giants in Scandinavian folklore

In later times, giants were more commonly known as trolls in Norway, but in Sweden and Denmark they were generally called jätte (pl. jättar) and jætte (jætter) respectively, both names being derived from the Norse joten. In Norway they may also be known as jotun. Trolls in Sweden and Denmark are typically smaller and sometimes possess magical powers. According to Scandinavian folklore, giants can't stand the sound of church bells, and therefore must live far from civilization, in the mountains or the most remote forests. When they sometimes travel to human society, their main objective seems to be the silencing of this clamor by throwing large boulders at churches.

The giants were however mainly seen as a race of the past, whose remains could still be seen in the landscape. Saxo Grammaticus attributed the raising of dolmens to the giants, and a large stone lying about seemingly randomly in the country (actually a remnant of the Ice Age) was called "a throw of the giants" (jättekast in Swedish). This concept survived in folklore to a late date, demonstrated by a story from Swedish folklore, according to which a giant in elder times pulled up two huge chunks of land, forming lake Vänern and Vättern, and threw them out into the Baltic Sea, where they became the islands Gotland and Öland, respectively. Another legend in Sweden is that of Jätten Finn, a giant who agreed to build the Lund Cathedral. A monk bet him that if he finished building the cathedral before the monk was able to find out Finn's name, the monk would give Finn his eyes. Subsequently, the monk overheard a giant woman singing Finn's name in a song to her children, and was able to tell the giant his name just before he had finished building the cathedral. Finn became so angry that he threw his arms around a pillar to tear down the cathedral, but at that moment he was turned into stone. There is a pillar in the cathedral with a carving of a man hugging it, which was said to be Jätten Finn (but is generally believed to be Samson from the Bible).^{[citation needed]}

Jotun in popular culture

• Jotuns are enemies in the the Guild Wars expansion Eye of the North and live in an area populated by the Norn, a race based on the Norse people.

• Jotun is the name of a giant in the game HeroScape.

• Jotun is the first track on the album Whoracle by Swedish Melodic Death Metal band In Flames.

• Norwegian Black/Viking metal band Enslaved had a song titled "Jotunblod", or "The Blood of Giants" on their album titled Frost

• A nine-headed Jotun Troll is Monster in My Pocket #12. He is allied with the good monsters and is generally comic relief, as his heads can never agree with one another.

• The name "Jotun" is a type of "Gigas" monster in Final Fantasy XI.

• Giants of similar description are present in a series titled The Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe. Some of the giants names match with names of the Jotun.

• Jotuns were six feet, orange-haired, trolls in Nancy Farmer's The Sea of Trolls.

• Jotunheim is a playable nation in the Dominions I, Dominions II and Dominions III game series.

• Frost Giants and Fire Giants are enemies of the Marvel Comics version of Thor.

• The "Vrykul" race in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King bear a striking resemblance to Jotuns.

• In the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett, the gods of Dunmanifestin have an ancient enmity with the Ice Giants, who refuse to return the lawnmower. In Sourcery, the portents of the end of the world include the Ice Giants driving their glaciers across the plains.

• Jotun Grunt and Jotun Owl-Keeper are cards depicted as giants in the popular Magic: The Gathering collectible card game. [3]

Names of giants

Main article: List of giants in Norse mythology

The Prose and Poetic Eddas, which form the foundation of what we know today concerning Norse mythology, contain many names of giants and giantesses. While many of them are featured in extant myths of their own, many others have come down to us today only as names in various lists provided for the benefit of poets of the medieval period.

Notes

1. ^ Refer Thurisaz or thorn.
2. ^ Cognate with Sanskrit rishi? ^{[citation needed]}

References

• Faulkes, Anthony (transl. and ed.) (1987). Edda (Snorri Sturluson). Everyman. ISBN 0-460-87616-3
• Larrington, Carolyne (transl. and ed.) (1996). The Poetic Edda. Oxford World's Classics. ISBN 0-19-283946-2

• This article contains content from the Owl Edition of Nordisk familjebok, a Swedish encyclopedia published between 1904–1926 now in Public Domain.

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