ettin

English

Alternative forms

• etin, etten, eaton, yetun, yotun, yeten, yetin, Etene, Yttin, Ytene.

Etymology

From Middle English eten, etend, from Old English eoten (“giant, monster, enemy”), from Proto-West Germanic *etun, from Proto-Germanic *etunaz (“giant, glutton”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed- (“to eat”). Cognate with Icelandic jötunn (“giant”), Swedish jätte (“giant”), Danish jætte (“giant”). Doublet of jotun.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛtɪn/
• Rhymes: -ɛtɪn, -ɛtən

Noun

ettin (plural ettins)

1. (dialectal, archaic, fantasy) A giant.
   • 1890, Joseph Jacobs, "The Red Ettin" in English Folk and Fairy Tales, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 3rd edition, no date, p. 138, [1]

     He asked the wife if he might stay for the night, as he was tired with a long journey; and the wife said he might, but it was not a good place for him to be in, as it belonged to the Red Ettin, who was a very terrible beast, with three heads, that spared no living man it could get hold of.

2. (roleplaying games) A giant with two heads.

Anagrams

• teint, tinet