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of the Gospel of Nicodemus.17 Here, the term jötunn is applied to Satan,
although no corresponding word appears in the original Latin text. The
translator’s application of this term to describe Satan depends on an un-
derstanding of the negative character of mythological jötnar, and their
position as the opponents of the Æsir, the divine forces who represent the
interests of humanity.18 The word jötunn also appears in Alexanders saga, a
translation of Walter of Châtillon’s Alexandreis. In this text Typheus, the
primary opponent of Jupiter in the Gigantomachy, is described as a jötunn.
Again, no term exists in the Latin text that encourages the application of
the term jötunn, so it is clear that the translator made an independent con-
nection between the jötnar of mythological tradition and the monstrous
Typheus of Alexandreis. Jötnar are placed in Hell once more in chapter 17
of Duggals leizla, a translation of the Visio Tnugdali. In each of these texts,
the use of the word jötunn is connected to its chief function as a descrip-
tor for the chaotic beings who oppose the Æsir in mythological sources.
Jötnar also appear sporadically in translated romances, namely Bevers saga,
a likely translation of the Anglo-Norman Boeve de Haumtone; Ívens saga, a
translation of Chrétien de Troyes’s Yvain; and Erex saga, a translation of
Chrétien’s Erec et Enide. In all of these texts jötnar are monstrous creatures
who oppose humans.
However, jötunn was not an especially productive term for describing
gigantic figures from other literary traditions, since these are apparently
the only six texts in which it functions as such. Jötnar feature more promi-
nently in works of Scandinavian provenance. They appear as monstrous
adversaries in several indigenous romances, namely Bærings saga; Ála flekks
saga; Kirjalax saga; Ectors saga; Sigurðar saga þögla and Tristams saga. Jötnar
17 For locating many of the instances of the words jötunn and risi in the prose works discussed
in this section, I made use of the online Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, hosted by the
University of Copenhagen, https://onp.ku.dk/onp/onp.php?o (accessed August 8, 2019).
I have supplemented the information provided by this resource with my own findings. Any
omissions are my own. I have not mentioned instances where risar and jötnar feature in
figurative expressions such as sterkr sem risi “strong as a risi” because these do not reference
actual risar and jötnar and are therefore not relevant to the current investigation.
18 It is likely that this was a conscious equivocation, as the translator of Niðrstigningar saga
routinely altered his source so that Christian narratives adhered to Old Norse mythological
material. See Gary Aho, “Niðrstigningarsaga: An Old Norse Version of Christ’s Harrowing
of Hell,” Scandinavian Studies 41 (1966): 150–59, and Dario Bullitta, Niðrstigningar saga:
Sources, Transmission and Theology of the Old Norse “Descent into Hell” (Toronto: Toronto
University Press, 2017).
A PROBLEM OF GIANT PROPORTIONS