What is the difference between giants, Jotuns and trolls in Norse mythology?

Question

I am a little bit confused by the way the terms giant, frost giant, jotun (or jötunn), ettin and troll seem to overlap in Norse mythology.

I don't understand if they refer to a single race or multiple (or even variations within the race).

It adds to my confusion that some of the terms seem to refer to strikingly similar beings, but that some of these creatures are inconsistently depicted. The same beings can be portrayed both as both hideous or beautiful (I understand how good or evil characters could vary in appearance, but the physical appearance seems inconsistent for the whole "race").

Another example: the word "giant" would make you think that beings of this race were of a greater size (greater than average, being this "greater than human size" or "greater than god/Æsir/Vanir size"), but this doesn't seem to be a problem sometimes in order to interact (intermarrying, procreating, etc.) with other beings. That makes me think that the all those names depict different creatures, and not just one race, still, as pointed above, there doesn't seem to be consistency for the traits of each of these races..

Could someone clarify if these are different classes of beings, the same class with different names, or clarify what they were an "embodiment" of (like, giant or troll is another way of depict a race as "evil")?

Answer 1

Giants are said to be element-based creatures.

Giants are extremely strong and are associated with cold and frost.^[1] One giant is supposed to bring about the wind (Hræsvelgr), while another is associated with the sea (Ægir) and yet another with fire (Logi).

_{source: http://www.germanicmythology.com/original/cosmology4.html}

_{[1]: Vafthrüthnismal 33 and Grimnismal 31.}

So, frost giants come under the category of giants.

Now, the jotun (jǫtunn). A Jotun is a giant with superhuman strength; their homeland is Jotunheim. Ægir is said to be the sea jotun. And from the above quote, it is clear that Ægir was a giant. Hence confirming that the terms jotun and giants are very same.

In modern Icelandic, jötunn has kept its original meaning. In Old English, the cognate to jötunn is eoten, whence modern English ettin. Hence ettin is another term for giants, which evolved from the ancient roots of its original term.

This extract from the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál, suggest that trolls were opposites to the giants (emphasis mine).

They call me a troll,
moon of the earth-Hrungnir
wealth sucker of the giant,
destroyer of the storm-sun
beloved follower of the seeress,

The giants were often involved in incidents of higher degree (eg. battles with gods) whereas trolls live isolated and are not involved (not as much of the giants) with the higher degree incidents. Another major difference is that, as I have mentioned earlier in the answer, giants are element based. Trolls however, were not.

_{Further reading: http://netlibrary.net/articles/j%C3%B6tunn}

Answer 2

There are two kinds of giants; frost giants and fire giants. Frost giants live in the realm called Jotunheim, therefore frost giants and jotuns are the same thing. Fire giants live in another realm, Muspelheim, the world of flame. Jotunheim appears in the first Marvel Thor film. Muspelheim has a cameo in the Dark World.

Trolls are another case altogether. They live in yet another realm called Nidavelir.

Answer 3

Jotuns and Ettins are the same things (the J makes the Y sound, so Jotuns becomes Eotenas, then Ettins). They are giants, but not entirely humanoid. Some are huge birds, some have vulture or wolf heads, some are firey, etc. 'Giant' and 'Frost Giant' are translations of Jotun (or also Thurs and Risi). As for trolls, they are sort of Jotuns. Most probably they are from an older legendarium, from which probably came the Vanir and dwarfs and elves. It then overlapped with the new one of Aesir, Jotuns, and etc. Trolls are creatures of the wilderness, like Huldrefolk, and in fact they often have a Hulder or Hulderskall as their leader.

Answer 4

The Giants or Gigantes are actually from Greek mythology. Etymologically the word means born from earth, which means they were the offspring of Gaia and the blood of Uranus after he was killed by Cronus. They were originally man-sized and looked like men. But in later stories they were depicted with snakes for legs. And after that people started confusing them with the Titans whom were the children of Gaia and Uranus before them. Now the Titans were of extremely large size and that's why to this day we have the misconception of giants as large creatures. And why we think the Jotun are giants even though they aren't.