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about|the Eddur, poems and tales of Norse mythology |the ancestress of serfs in the Rígsţula|Rígsţula|the ethnic group in Nigeria |Edda people|the Icelandic film and television award|Edda Award|the Hungarian rock group|Edda muvekOld Norse topicsThe term Edda ( Old Norse Edda , plural Eddur ) applies to the Old Norse Poetic Edda and Prose Edda , both of which were written down in medieval Iceland|Iceland during the 13th century in Icelandic, although they contain material from earlier traditional sources, reaching into the Viking Age . The books are the main sources of medieval skald ic tradition in Iceland and Norse mythology .
Etymology
There are several theories concerning the origins of the word edda . One theory holds that it is identical to a word that means "great-grandmother" appearing in the Eddic poem Rígsţula. Snorri Sturluson. The Prose Edda: Tales from Norse Mythology , translated by Jean I. Young (University of California Press, 1964), p. 8. Another theory holds that edda derives from Old Norse óđr , "poetry." A third, proposed in 1895 by Eiríkr Magnússon, but since discredited, is that it derives from the Icelandic place name Oddi , site of the church and school where students, including Snorri Sturluson , were educated.Cite journal | last1 = Liberman | first1 = Anatoly | year = 1996 | title = Ten Scandinavian and North English Etymologies | url = | journal = Alvíssmál | volume = 6 | issue = | pages = 63–98 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. Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages (2010) under "Snorri Sturluson"
The Poetic Edda
main|Poetic EddaThe Poetic Edda , also known as Sćmundar Edda or the Elder Edda , is a collection of Old Norse poems from the Iceland ic medieval manuscript Codex Regius ("Royal Book"). Along with the Prose Edda , 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 List of Germanic deities and heroes|Norse deities . The poems in the second part narrate legends about List of Germanic deities and heroes|Norse heroes and heroines , such as Sigurd , Brynhildr and Gunnar .
The Codex Regius was written down 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 . At that time, versions of the Prose Edda were well known in Iceland, but scholars speculated that there once was another Edda —an Elder Edda —which contained the Norse paganism|pagan 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 Saemund|Sćmundr the Learned , a larger-than-life 12th century Icelandic priest. While this attribution is rejected by modern scholars, the name Sćmundar Edda is still sometimes encountered.
Bishop Brynjólfur sent the Codex Regius as a present to King Christian IV of Denmark , hence the name Codex Regius . For centuries it was stored in the Royal Library, Copenhagen|Royal Library in Copenhagen but in 1971 it was returned to Iceland.
In 2009, HarperCollins posthumously published J.R.R. Tolkien 's retelling of the Poetic Edda . Titled, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun , the book was composed in an English language recreation of Old Norse alliterative verse .
The Prose Edda
main|Prose EddaThe Prose Edda , sometimes referred to as the Younger Edda or ''Snorri's Edda is an Iceland ic manual of poetics which also contains many mythological stories. Its purpose was to enable Iceland ic poets and readers to understand the subtleties of alliterative verse , and to grasp the mythological allusions behind the many kenning s that were used in skaldic poetry .
It was written by the Icelandic scholar and historian Snorri Sturluson around 1220. It survives in seven main manuscripts, written down from about 1300 to about 1600.
The Prose Edda consists of a Prologue (Prose Edda)|Prologue and three separate books: Gylfaginning , concerning the creation and foretold destruction and rebirth of the Norse mythical world, Skáldskaparmál , a dialogue between Ćgir , a supernatural figure connected with the sea, and Bragi, a god connected with skald ship, and Háttatal , a demonstration of verse forms used in Norse mythology.
See also
Wikisource1911Enc
Gesta Danorum
Heimskringla
Notes
reflist Poetic EddaProse EddaNorse mythology Category:Medieval literature Category:Sources of Norse mythology Category:Old Norse literature
