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TheProse Edda, also known as theYounger Edda,Snorri's Edda (Icelandic:Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply asEdda, is anOld Norse textbook written inIceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some extent written, or at least compiled, by the Icelandic scholar,lawspeaker, and historianSnorri Sturlusonc. 1220. It is considered the fullest and most detailed source for modern knowledge ofNorse mythology, the body ofmyths of theNorth Germanic peoples, and draws from a wide variety of sources, including versions of poems that survive into today in a collection known as thePoetic Edda.
TheProse Edda consists of four sections: ThePrologue, aeuhemerized account of the Norse gods;Gylfaginning, which provides a question and answer format that details aspects of Norse mythology (consisting of approximately 20,000 words),Skáldskaparmál, which continues this format before providing lists ofkennings andheiti (approximately 50,000 words); andHáttatal, which discusses the composition of traditionalskaldic poetry (approximately 20,000 words).
Dating fromc. 1300 to 1600, seven manuscripts of theProse Edda differ from one another in notable ways, which provides researchers with independent textual value for analysis. TheProse Edda appears to have functioned similarly to a contemporary textbook, with the goal of assisting Icelandic poets and readers in understanding the subtleties ofalliterative verse, and to grasp the meaning behind the many kennings used in skaldic poetry.
Originally known to scholars simply asEdda, theProse Edda gained its contemporary name in order to differentiate it from thePoetic Edda. Early scholars of theProse Edda suspected that there once existed a collection of entire poems, a theory confirmed with the rediscovery of manuscripts of thePoetic Edda.[1]
The etymology of "Edda" remains uncertain; there are many hypotheses about its meaning and development, yet little agreement. Some argue that the word derives from the name ofOddi, a town in the south of Iceland where Snorri was raised. Edda could therefore mean "book of Oddi." However, this assumption is generally rejected. Anthony Faulkes in his English translation of the Prose Edda comments that this is "unlikely, both in terms oflinguistics andhistory"[2] since Snorri was no longer living at Oddi when he composed his work.
Another connection was made with the wordóðr, which means 'poetry or inspiration' in Old Norse.[2] According to Faulkes, though such a connection is plausible semantically, it is unlikely that "Edda" could have been coined in the 13th century on the basis of "óðr", because such a development "would have had to have taken place gradually", andEdda in the sense of 'poetics' is not likely to have existed in the preliterary period.[3]
Edda also means 'great-grandparent', a word that appears inSkáldskaparmál, which occurs as the name of a figure in the eddic poemRigsthula and in other medieval texts.
A final hypothesis is derived from theLatinedo, meaning "I write". It relies on the fact that the word"kredda" (meaning "belief") is certified and comes from the Latin"credo", meaning 'I believe'.Edda in this case could be translated as "Poetic Art". This is the meaning that the word was then given in the medieval period.[2]
The now uncommonly used nameSæmundar Edda was given in 1643 by theBishopBrynjólfur Sveinsson to the collection of poems contained in theCodex Regius, many of which are quoted by Snorri. Brynjólfur, along with many others of his time incorrectly believed that they were collected bySæmundr fróði[4] (therefore before the drafting of the Edda of Snorri), and so the Poetic Edda is also known as the Elder Edda.
Seven manuscripts of theProse Edda have survived into the present day: Six copies from the medieval period and another dating to the 1600s. No one manuscript is complete, and each has variations. In addition to three fragments, the four main manuscripts are Codex Regius,Codex Wormianus, Codex Trajectinus, and the Codex Upsaliensis:[5]
| Name | Current location | Dating | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Codex Upsaliensis (DG 11) | University of Uppsala library,Sweden | First quarter of the 14th century.[6] | Provides some variants not found in any of the three other major manuscripts, such as the nameGylfaginning. |
| Codex Regius (GKS 2367 4°) | Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies,Reykjavík,Iceland | First half of the 14th century.[6] | It is the most comprehensive of the four manuscripts, and is received by scholars to be closest to an original manuscript. This is why it is the basis for editions and translations of theProse Edda. Its name is derived from its conservation in theRoyal Library of Denmark for several centuries. From 1973 to 1997, hundreds of ancient Icelandic manuscripts were returned from Denmark to Iceland, including, in 1985, the Codex Regius, which is now preserved by the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies. |
| Codex Wormianus (AM 242 fol) | Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection,Copenhagen,Denmark | Mid-14th century.[6] | None |
| Codex Trajectinus (MSS 1374) | University of Utrecht library,Netherlands | Writtenc. 1600.[6] | A copy of a manuscript that was made in the second half of the 13th century. |
The other three manuscripts are AM 748; AM 757 a 4to; and AM 738 II 4to, AM le ß fol. Although some scholars have doubted whether a soundstemma of the manuscripts can be created, due to the possibility of scribes drawing on multiple exemplars or from memory, recent work has found that the main sources of each manuscript can be fairly readily ascertained.[8] TheProse Edda' remained fairly unknown outside of Iceland until the publication of theEdda Islandorum in 1665.[9]
The text is generally considered to have been written or at least compiled bySnorri Sturluson. This identification is largely based on the following paragraph from a portion of Codex Upsaliensis, an early 14th-century manuscript containing theEdda:
Bók þessi heitir Edda. Hana hefir saman setta Snorri Sturluson eptir þeim hætti sem hér er skipat. Er fyrst frá Ásum ok Ymi, þar næst Skáldskaparmál ok heiti margra hluta, síðast Háttatal er Snorri hefir ort um Hákon konung ok Skúla hertuga.[10]
This book is called Edda. Snorri Sturluson has compiled it in the manner in which it is arranged here. There is first told about the Æsir and Ymir, then Skáldskaparmál (‘poetic diction’) and (poetical) names of many things, finally Háttatal ('enumeration of metres or verse-forms') which Snorri has composed aboutKing Hákon andEarl Skúli.[10]
Scholars have noted that this attribution, along with that of other primary manuscripts, is not clear whether or not Snorri is more than the compiler of the work and the author ofHáttatal or if he is the author of the entireEdda.[11] Faulkes summarizes the matter of scholarly discourse around the authorship of theProse Edda as follows:
Whatever the case, the mention of Snorri in the manuscripts has been influential in a common acceptance of Snorri as the author or at least one of the authors of theEdda.[11]
The Prologue is the first section of four books of theProse Edda, consisting of aeuhemerizedChristian account of the origins ofNorse mythology: the Nordic gods are described as humanTrojan warriors who left Troy after the fall of that city (an origin which parallels Virgil'sAeneid).
Gylfaginning (Old Icelandic 'the tricking ofGylfi')[13] follows the Prologue in theProse Edda.Gylfaginning deals with the creation and destruction of the world of theNordic gods, and many other aspects ofNorse mythology. The section is written in prose interspersed with quotes from eddic poetry.
Skáldskaparmál (Old Icelandic 'the language of poetry'[14]) is the third section ofEdda, and consists of a dialogue betweenÆgir, ajötunn who is one of various personifications of the sea, andBragi, askaldic god, in which both Norse mythology and discourse on the nature of poetry are intertwined. The origin of a number of kennings are given and Bragi then delivers a systematiclist of kennings for various people, places, and things. Bragi then goes on to discuss poetic language in some detail, in particularheiti, the concept of poetical words which are non-periphrastic, for example "steed" for "horse", and again systematises these. This section contains numerous quotes from skaldic poetry.
Háttatal (Old Icelandic "list of verse-forms"[15]) is the last section ofProse Edda. The section is composed by theIcelandicpoet, politician, and historianSnorri Sturluson. Primarily using his own compositions, it exemplifies the types of verse forms used in Old Norse poetry. Snorri took a prescriptive as well as descriptive approach; he has systematized the material, often noting that the older poets did not always follow his rules.
TheProse Edda has been the subject of numerous translations. The most recent ones into English have been byJesse Byock (2006), Anthony Faulkes (1987 / 2nd ed. 1995), Jean Young (1954), andArthur Gilchrist Brodeur (1916). Many of these translations are abridged; the technical nature of theHáttatal means it is frequently excluded, and theSkáldskaparmál often has its more Old Norse thesaurus aspects abridged as well.[16][17]
Translations into English
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link) (Project Gutenberg e-text, 1901 ed.;Wikisource edition.){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link) A version based strictly on the Codex Upsaliensis (DG 11) document; includes both Old Norse and English translation.Translations into other languages
Texts on Wikisource: