Ettins | Two Headed Giants

In Celtic mythology, the term ettin (from the Old English eoten, meaning "giant" or "monster") is a general word for a giant. While giants are prominent in Celtic lore, particularly the Fomorians in Irish mythology, a specific, consistent creature known as a two-headed "ettin" is not a direct or widespread figure in the original myths. 

The Origin of the "Ettin" Concept

The modern popular image of a two-headed ettin as a specific monster comes primarily from the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, which synthesized elements from various European folklores, including Celtic and Germanic. 

• Linguistic Roots: The word "ettin" is an English dialect word for "giant" and shares roots with the Old Norse jötunn (plural jötnar), the giants of Germanic and Norse mythology.
• Literary References: Authors like J.R.R. Tolkien (Ettenmoors) and C.S. Lewis used the term in their works, possibly conflating it with the general idea of barbarous giants or multi-headed trolls from various folk tales, which likely influenced the D&D creators. 

Giants in Celtic Mythology

Giants certainly existed in Celtic folklore, but they were not exclusively or necessarily two-headed in their descriptions: 

• Fomorians (Fomori): In Irish mythology, the Fomorians were a race of supernatural, often hostile, beings who were enemies of Ireland's first settlers, the Tuatha Dé Danann.
• They were often portrayed as monstrous, sometimes with a human body and the head of a goat, or having one eye, one arm, and one leg.
• One text mentions that a Fomorian might have had two heads, but this was one of many possible deformities, not a defining species-wide trait.
• A notable Fomorian leader was Balor, often described as a one-eyed giant with a destructive "evil eye".
• Regional Variation: Giants in Scottish folklore were often depicted as enormous beings capable of throwing large boulders, whose bodies were said to form the hills and mountains of Scotland.
• Specific Tales: One specific Irish folk tale mentions a "Red Ettin" of Ireland, which was a three-headed giant, a rare example of a multi-headed giant within specific Celtic stories. 

In essence, while the word "ettin" has Anglo-Saxon/Germanic roots meaning "giant," the popular culture image of a standard, two-headed giant monster is a modern fictional trope rather than a direct, widely established figure from ancient Celtic myth.