In Norse mythology is there a difference between the Jotuns and the Frost Giants?

Answer 1

Giants are a race. Dwarfs are a race. Humans are a race, etc.
so within this race of Giants, there are different classes of Giants.

Frost Giants are a class.of Giants, Fire Giants are a class of Giants, Mountain Giants are a class of Giants.

They live on Jotunheim so they are known as Jotuns.The Tribe of Jotuns are not only limited to the race of Giants, though their King is a Frost Giant. More recent additions to the tribe of Jotuns would be the race of trolls and Goblins.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

Right-o, I jst would like to start off by saying that I know zip about Dungeons and Dragon, or that other quasi-mythic pop culture crapolla, so if that's what you were after, I got nothin'.

From a purely acedemic mythological standpoint, however, Jotun, possibly derived from the Proto-Germanic etunaz meaning eater, simply signifies a giant (who would have a large appetite, hence the root.)

The first giant was Ymir (who was freakin' massive). His first offspring were frost giants, having sprung from his armpits whilst he slept. They originally dwelt in Niflhiem, until all save two drowned in the great flood of blood that occured when Ymir was slain by the early Aesir.

Those that survived, Bergelmir and his spouse, esacped and dwelt in the region know thence as Jotunheim, as its inhabitants were Jotuns, or Giants. THey were the progenitors of a younger milder race of frost giants who becaome know as bergrisar, or Mountain Giants, after their fore father whose name roughly translates to Mountain Yeller.

So, yes all the inhabitants of Jotunheim are technically Frost Giants, and all Frost Giants are Jotuns, but not all Jotun dwell in Jotunheim, and not all Jotun are Frost Giants. Fire Giants, for example, live in Muspelheim, but are still considered Jotuns.

The term Jotun has also expanded to include troll in some Nordic countries but this is a later development and is largely an effort to square previous culture's belief systems with those of the Germanic peoples that absorbed them.

All this being said, one of the paradoxical beauties of mythology is that is is ever changing and developing, and it is not a unified field to study. Definitions and concepts vary from community even within a single people. What is written above is only one of many interpretations, many of which are suppproted by scholarly evidence.

Anyhoo, that's that. Sorry if it makes no sense. I tend to ramble, at times incoherently. I hope it helps.

Answer 3

frost giants are a different type of giants, that's all

it's like white people and black people, both are still human

in any event, they all [giants] live on jotunheim, don't they?

Answer 4

they are different tipes...and they are called different...