Editing Jötunn (section)

==Mythological origin==
In a stanza of ''[[Völuspá hin skamma]]'' (found in the poem "[[Hyndluljóð]]"), all {{lang|non|jötnar}} descend from [[Ymir]].{{sfn|Bellows|2018|loc=Hyndluljóð, stanza 5}}  [[Gylfaginning]] elaborates on this, describing that the primordial {{lang|non|jötunn}} Ymir formed in the warm waters that arose in [[Ginnungagap]] when the rime of [[Niflheim]] was melted by the heat of [[Muspelheim]]. He lay there asleep, fed by milk from [[Auðumbla]], whereupon from his left armpit he sweated a male and a female, and his legs begat a son with one another. Together, these children became the ancestors of all other {{lang|non|jötnar}}.{{sfn|Simek|2008|pp=377–378}}{{sfn|Sturluson|2018|loc=Gylfaginning}}

Later, he was killed by the first [[Æsir|gods]], resulting in a [[Flood Myth|flood]] of Ymir's blood, in which all {{lang|non|jötnar}} drowned except [[Bergelmir]] and his family, who survive this event by way of sailing upon a {{lang|non|[[Bergelmir#Theories|luðr]]}}.{{sfn|Simek|2008|p=377}} This has been linked to a [[runic inscription]] on a sword hilt in [[Beowulf]] which describes the {{lang|ang|eotenas}} being killed in an ancient flood and has been proposed to derive from [[Germanic mythology|Germanic]] and wider [[Indo-European mythology]].{{sfn|Taylor|1998|loc= Chapter 8}}{{sfn|Schneider|1986|pp=170–171}}{{sfn|Slade|2007|pp=18-21}}

According to Gylfaginning, after Ymir was killed, his body was wrought into the world and a sea surrounded it. The gods then gave the surviving families {{lang|non|jötnar}} lands along the shore to settle, placing them in the periphery. Ymir's brows were then used to build [[Midgard]] and protect it from the {{lang|non|jötnar}} due to their known aggression.{{sfn|Jakobsson|2006}}{{sfn|Sturluson|2018|loc=Gylfaginning}}