Jotunn
A giant of Norse myth (Old Norse jötunn, plural jötnar), the race that "from Ymir sprang", living in Jotunheim across the river Ifing from the gods, kin to them by marriage and their enemies at the end of the world. Bellows translates the word as "giant" and "frost-giant"; the giants are wise (Vafthruthnir), dangerous (Thrym, Hymir) and, in Skadi and Gerth, the gods' wives.
Why this wins its question: Gives the giants' genealogy, geography and marriages from the stanzas, and explains what the English word hides.
Key takeaways
- The giants are Ymir's kin (Hyndluljoth 35; Vafthruthnismol 29–33), the gods' neighbours across Ifing, and their in-laws (Skadi, Gerth, Hymir).
- They are not simply monsters — Vafthruthnir is the wisest being Odin can find (Vafthruthnismol 1–2) — but they are the enemy at the end (Voluspo 47–52).
- Bellows's "giants" and "frost-giants" translate jötnar and hrímþursar.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
The giants descend from Ymir: "from Ymir sprang the giants all" (Hyndluljoth 35). Vafthruthnir traces them to venom dripping from Elivagar that "waxed till a giant it was; / And thence arose our giants' race", and says the first giant bred "'neath the arms" and "foot with foot" a six-headed son (Vafthruthnismol 30–33); the eldest of Ymir's kin is Bergelmir, "Thruthgelmir's son … And Aurgelmir's grandson" (Vafthruthnismol 29).
Their land is Jotunheim, and the gods' peace ends when "thither came up giant-maids three, / Huge of might, out of Jotunheim" (Voluspo 8); at the end "All Jotunheim groans" (Voluspo 48). The river Ifing runs "'twixt the realms / Of the gods and the giants … No ice on the river there is" (Vafthruthnismol 16). Thor's road to Thrym's hall is to "Jotunheim" (Thrymskvitha 21, 26).
Giants and gods intermarry: Skadi is "the god's fair bride" and the daughter of "Thjazi … The giant of marvelous might" (Grimnismol 11; Hyndluljoth 32); Freyr's wife Gerth is "the daughter of Gymir, / Of the giants' brood" (Hyndluljoth 32); Tyr's father is the giant Hymir (Hymiskvitha 5, 11); the god of nine mothers was borne by "nine giant women" (Hyndluljoth 37).
At the doom of the gods the giants are the enemy: "From the east comes Hrym with shield held high", "the giant is loose", "Surt fares from the south", and Odin's slayer is "the kinsman of Surt" (Voluspo 47–52); Thor's hammer is what keeps them out of Asgard (Thrymskvitha 17, 31–32).
"Jötunn" is the Old Norse word; Bellows renders it "giant" and, for the hrímþursar, "frost-giants" ("'Neath the second [root] the frost-giants", Grimnismol 31). Modern usage keeps jötunn/jötnar for the race to avoid the English word's suggestion of mere size.