Norse supernatural beings

[David19]

Today, i read a bit of 2 books on the ancient Norse religion, they were 'Lost Gods of England' by Brian Branston (http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Gods-England-Brian-Branston/dp/0500273219) and 'Scandinavian Mythology' by H.R. Ellis Davidson (http://www.amazon.com/Scandinavian-Mythology-Hilda-Roderick-Davidson/dp/0517017962/sr=1-1/qid=1171236417/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-9729469-7335216?ie=UTF8&s=books), and I think it was in H.R. Ellis's book, in the chapter on supernatural beings, she mentions various beings such as Jotun, trolls, and Orcs.

But, in Norse mythology, what are Orcs?, i've heard the term before, in a non-Lord of the Rings context, and i'm still not sure, are they the same as Jotun or are they different (and another question, what were trolls, are they, again, Jotun, or something else?).

Were the mythological Orcs like the Lord of the Rings ones (as in an army) or something different?.

Anyway, thanks for any help you can give me in understanding this :).

[Lolair]

Orc is an old english word meaning demon or evil spirit, usually associated with sea-beasts. This Wikipedia entry for Orc (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orc#Old_English_influence) goes through the etymology a lot better than I ever could. An orc does not seem similar to a giant/Jotun. Tolkien describes his use of "orc" as a monster, ogre, demon. In some cultures ogres (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogre) are called trolls. A troll (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll) is about the equivalent in my opinion of Tolkien's orc, and trolls were pretty common in Nordic folktales. Maybe one of the authors you read was very familiar with Tolkien and got the mythology confused as in general in folktales ogres and trolls are very similar - just different words used for different cultures.

[Carla O'Harris]

Note that the Wikipedia entry says,


Beowulf 112 orc-neas and the gloss orc = þyrs ('ogre'),

The gloss equates Orcs with Thurs (ie., vicious jotunns).