Laufás-Edda (''Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar'') is a 17th-century redaction of the

Snorra 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 t ...

, which survives in numerous Icelandic

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 printing, printed or repr ...

History

Laufás Edda was compiled by the Icelandic priest and poet Magnús Ólafsson (c.1573–1636) on the request of the Icelandic scholar and antiquarian

Arngrímur Jónsson Arngrímur Jónsson the Learned ( is, Arngrímur Jónsson hinn lærði; 1568 – 27 June 1648) was an Icelandic scholar and a Christian Apologetics, apologist. His father was Jón Jónsson, who died in 1591. Arngrímur studied in Copenhagen, co ...

. Magnús began his work at Auðkúla in 1607 after he had been dismissed from his office as parish minister, and completed his new redaction during the winter of 1608–09. Magnús would later serve as the priest at Laufás parish in Northern Iceland and as a consequence his version of the Edda is usually referred to as the Laufás-Edda. The purpose of his efforts was to make a systematic and encyclopedic version of

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 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 t ...

. Laufás-Edda is a rearranged redaction of the Snorra Edda. The myths in ''

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 th ...

'' are presented as a series of examples (''dæmisögur'') and the

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 po ...

s of ''

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, in ...

'' are organized alphabetically by subject. The last part, ''

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 own ...

'', was not included. Due to its popularity, the Laufás redaction later became the basis for the first printed Edition of the Snorra Edda,

Peder Hansen Resen Peder Hansen Resen (17 June 1625 – 1 June 1688) was the Danish historian, legal scholar and the president's residence in the city. He was the son of Bishop Hans Hansen Resen. Youth and education After private tuition, he was in 1641 placed ...

's Edda Islandorum. Resen's edition was accompanied by a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

translation. The Laufás-Edda, especially through Resen's edition, became a convenient and popular work of reference for poets and antiquarians, serving as an encyclopedia for researching both myth and poetic language.

Margaret Clunies Ross Margaret Beryl Clunies Ross (born 24 April 1942) is a medievalist who was until her retirement in 2009 the McCaughey Professor of English Language and Early English Literature and Director of the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Syd ...

and Lars Lönnroth, ''The Norse Muse: Report from an International Research Project'' (''Alvíssmál 9''. 1999
3–28
(pdf), here pp. 8–11.]

References

Sources

*Anthony Faulkes, ed., ''Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century, 1: Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda); 2: Edda Islandorum: Völuspá, Hávamál'' (Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi, 1979)

External links

Newly discovered manuscript of Magnús Ólafsson’s Edda''Specimen Lexici Runici'' compiled by Magnús ÓlafssonMagnús Ólafsson biografi
(In Danish) Sources of Norse mythology Icelandic literature Medieval literature {{Norse-myth-stub

History

References

Sources

Further reading

External links