"Edda" (;

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

''Edda'', plural ''Eddur'') is an

term that has been attributed by modern scholars to the collective of two

Medieval Iceland The recorded history of Iceland began with the settlement by Viking explorers and the people they enslaved from the east, particularly Norway and the British Isles, in the late ninth century. Iceland was still uninhabited long after the rest ...

ic literary works: what is now known as the ''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been ...

'' and an older collection of poems without an original title now known as the ''

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic med ...

''. The term historically referred only to the ''Prose Edda'', but this has fallen out of use because of the confusion with the other work. Both works were written down in

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

during the 13th century in Icelandic, although they contain material from earlier traditional sources, reaching into the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

. The books are the main sources of medieval

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditional ...

ic tradition in

and

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern per ...

Etymology

At least five hypotheses have been suggested for the origins of the word ''edda'': * One hypothesis holds that it is identical to a word that means "great-grandmother" appearing in the Eddic poem ''Rígsþula.'' * Another hypothesis holds that ''edda'' derives from Old Norse ''óðr'', "poetry". * A third, proposed in 1895 by Eiríkr Magnússon, is that it derives from the Icelandic place name '' Oddi'', site of the church and school where students, including

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

, were educated. * A fourth hypothesis—the derivation of the word ''Edda'' as the name of Snorri Sturluson's treatise on poetry from the Latin ''edo'', "I compose (poetry)", by analogy with ''kredda'', "superstition", from Latin ''credo'', "creed"—is now widely accepted, although this acceptance might stem from its agreement with modern usage rather than historical accuracy.''Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages'' (2010) under "Snorri Sturluson" * The fifth hypothesis is based on the past fashion of giving Icelandic manuscripts bird titles. Such are the legal codes ''Grágás'' 'grey goose', ''Gullfjǫðr'' 'gold feather (quill?)', and ''Hryggjar-stykki'' 'a kind of duck'. Perhaps ''Edda'' was also one of such titles: ''Edda'' would be an appropriate 'pet name' of ''æðr'' (pronounced as �:ðrf.) 'eider duck'. Then, ''Edda'' meant 'little eider duck' (an analog of ''Grágás'').Liberman, Anatoly (2016). "The Origin of the Name Edda", in Anatoly Liberman, ''In Prayer and Laughter. Essays on Medieval Scandinavian and Germanic Mythology, Literature, and Culture''. Paleograph Press. .

The ''Poetic Edda''

The ''Poetic Edda'', also known as ''Sæmundar Edda'' or the ''Elder Edda'', is a collection of

poems from the

ic medieval

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced i ...

Codex Regius Codex Regius ( la, Cōdex Rēgius, "Royal Book" or "King's Book"; is, Konungsbók) or GKS 2365 4º is an Icelandic codex in which many Old Norse poems from the ''Poetic Edda'' are preserved. Thought to have been written during the 1270s, it ...

("Royal Book"). Along with the ''

'', the ''Poetic Edda'' is the most expansive source on Norse mythology. The first part of the Codex Regius preserves poems that narrate the creation and foretold destruction and rebirth of the Old Norse mythological world as well as individual myths about gods concerning

Norse deities In Germanic paganism, the indigenous religion of the ancient Germanic peoples who inhabited Germanic Europe, there were a number of different gods and goddesses. Germanic deities are attested from numerous sources, including works of literat ...

. The poems in the second part narrate legends about Norse heroes and heroines, such as

Sigurd Sigurd ( non, Sigurðr ) or Siegfried (Middle High German: ''Sîvrit'') is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon and was later murdered. It is possible he was inspired by one or more figures from the Frankish Merovin ...

Brynhildr Brunhild, also known as Brunhilda or Brynhild ( non, Brynhildr , gmh, Brünhilt, german: Brünhild , label=Modern German or ), is a female character from Germanic heroic legend. She may have her origins in the Visigothic princess Brunhilda o ...

and

Gunnar Gunnar is a male first name of Nordic origin (''Gunnarr'' in Old Norse). The name Gunnar means fighter, soldier, and attacker, but mostly is referred to by the Viking saying which means Brave and Bold warrior (''gunnr'' "war" and ''arr'' "warrior ...

. It consists of two parts. The first part has 10 songs about gods, and the second one has 19 songs about heroes. The Codex Regius was written in the 13th century, but nothing is known of its whereabouts until 1643, when it came into the possession of Brynjólfur Sveinsson, then the Church of Iceland's Bishop of

Skálholt Skálholt (Modern Icelandic: ; non, Skálaholt ) is a historical site in the south of Iceland, at the river Hvítá. History Skálholt was, through eight centuries, one of the most important places in Iceland. A bishopric was established in Sk� ...

. At that time, versions of the ''

'' were well known in Iceland, but scholars speculated that there once was another ''Edda''—an ''Elder Edda''—which contained the

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...

poems Snorri quotes in his book. When the Codex Regius was discovered, it seemed that this speculation had proven correct. Brynjólfur attributed the manuscript to Sæmundr the Learned, a larger-than-life 12th century Icelandic priest. While this attribution is rejected by modern scholars, the name ''Sæmundar Edda'' is still sometimes encountered. Bishop Brynjólfur sent the ''Codex Regius'' as a present to King

Christian IV of Denmark Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs and Scandinavian mona ...

, hence the name ''Codex Regius''. For centuries it was stored in the Royal Library in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

but in 1971 it was returned to Iceland.

The ''Prose Edda''

The ''Prose Edda'', sometimes referred to as the ''Younger Edda'' or ''Snorri's Edda'', is an

ic manual of poetics which also contains many mythological stories. Its purpose was to enable

ic poets and readers to understand the subtleties of

alliterative verse In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal ornamental device to help indicate the underlying metrical structure, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of ...

, and to grasp the mythological allusions behind the many

kenning A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English ...

s that were used in

skaldic poetry A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditional ...

. It was written by the Icelandic scholar and historian

around 1220. It survives in four known manuscripts and three fragments, written down from about 1300 to about 1600. The ''Prose Edda'' consists of a

Prologue A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...

and three separate books: ''

Gylfaginning ''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; c. 20,000 words; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'' after the Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' deals with t ...

'', concerning the

creation Creation may refer to: Religion *''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing *Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it *Creationism, the belief that ...

and foretold destruction and rebirth of the Norse mythical world; ''

Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Language of Poetry'; c. 50,000 words; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda''. The section consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry, ...

'', a dialogue between

Ægir Ægir (anglicised as Aegir; Old Norse 'sea'), Hlér (Old Norse 'sea'), or Gymir (Old Norse less clearly 'sea, engulfer'), is a jötunn and a personification of the sea in Norse mythology. In the Old Norse record, Ægir hosts the gods in his halls ...

, a Norse god connected with the sea, and

Bragi Bragi (; Old Norse: ) is the skaldic god of poetry in Norse mythology. Etymology The theonym Bragi probably stems from the masculine noun ''bragr'', which can be translated in Old Norse as 'poetry' (cf. Icelandic ''bragur'' 'poem, melody, wise ...

, the

ic god of poetry; and ''

Háttatal The Háttatal (Old Norse: 'Tally of Metres'; c. 20,000 words; Old Norse: , Modern Icelandic: ) is the last section of the ''Prose Edda'' composed by the Icelandic poet, politician, and historian Snorri Sturluson. Using, for the most part, his ow ...

'', a demonstration of verse forms used in Norse mythology.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Old Norse literature Sources of Norse mythology

Etymology

The ''Poetic Edda''

The ''Prose Edda''

See also

References

External links