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'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...

, which survives in numerous Icelandic

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

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. 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 th ...

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

. 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'; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first main part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'', after the initial Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' takes the form of ...

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

kenning A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech, a figuratively-phrased compound term that is used in place of a simple single-word noun. For instance, the Old English kenning () means , as does (). A kenning has two parts: a base-word (a ...

s of ''

Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'Poetic Diction' or 'The Language of Poetry'; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda'', compiled by Snorri Sturluson. It consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bra ...

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

Háttatal The Háttatal (Old Norse: 'Tally of Metre (poetry), 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 mo ...

'', 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 a Danish historian, legal scholar and president of Copenhagen. He lived in what was then Denmark–Norway. Early life and education Peder Hansen Resen was born 17 June 1625 in Copenhagen. ...

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

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

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 S ...

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) ' 1609 books 17th-century manuscripts Icelandic literature Medieval literature Prose Edda {{Norse-myth-stub

History

References

Sources

Further reading

External links