Edda, an Icelandic collection of writings which contains the mythological traditions and the early songs of the Scandinavian nations. There are two so-called eddas. The word edda, its early significance, and its present use, have been the occasion of much discussion among scholars. The word is not found in any of the dialects of the northern languages. It appears first in an old song belonging to the collection known as the Elder Edda. In this song the word is used as a title for great-grandmother, which has suggested the idea that the name was given to these records because the stories were told and retold by grandmothers. If this theory be true, the title Edda is in meaning akin to that of Mother Goose. Another and quite different idea is that these old songs and tales were looked upon as the source or mother of more modern poetry. The word edda is found in the inscription on one of the manuscripts of the Younger Edda, but why it was so called is not very clear. Gudbrand Vigfusson, a Danish authority of high rank, states that from 1340 to 1640 the word edda is used by poets as a synonym for the technical laws of poetic composition. This would imply that the Younger Edda was so called from that portion of the manuscript which sets forth these laws of prosody. The Younger Edda, and the only one known up to 1642, is also called the Prose Edda and the Snorra Edda, or Edda Snorra. It is believed by scholars to have been composed, in part at least, between the years 1140 and 1160, more than a hundred years after the introduction of Christianity into Iceland. Snorri Sturluson, a learned Icelander, who lived in 1178-1241, and from whom the Edda takes the name of Snorra Edda, arranged, modified, and added to the work of the earlier authors. Several manuscript copies of the Snorra Edda are in existence, the oldest of which dates from the early part of the fourteenth century. This Edda was first printed in 1665. It has been translated into French, German, and English. It is written largely in prose and consists of five parts, as follows: 1. A preface which shows plainly the influence of Christianity giving as it does a history of the world from the time of Adam and Eve down to the kings of Norway and Sweden. 2. The fooling of Gylfe. Gylfe is a king of Sweden and this part of the Edda consists of stories of Norse mythology. It is the most valuable record of the mythological system of the Scandinavians. 3. Brage's Talke or Sayings of Brage. These are also legends of the gods. Brage or Bragi was the god of poetry. 4. This is the longest of the five parts of the Edda. It is a treatise on the art of poetry, commonly called Sk'alda. It claims to consist of instructions given by Bragi. It contains, interspersed throughout the rules, and illustrative of them, two hundred forty poetic quotations and ten longer poems, among which are found many of the best examples of northern poetry. 5. A commentary on three of Snorri's poems, written in honor of Hakon, King of Norway. The Elder Edda, known also as Samund's Edda and the Poetic Edda, was wholly unknown until 1642. At this time an Icelandic bishop, Brynhulf Sveinsson, discovered an old vellum manuscript containing a collection of songs about Norse gods and heroes. He called it, somewhat unfortunately, Samund's Edda, believing that the songs had been collected by Samund the Wise, a Christian priest of the eleventh century. The discovery of this manuscript awakened great interest in Scandinavian literature. It led to the printing of the Younger Edda and to researches which brought to light a large number of songs and sagas of great value in the study of the northern nations. Later authorities are convinced that Samund had nothing to do with the collection, that the songs were put into writing from oral tradition as late as the thirteenth century, and that the oldest of the songs could not have been composed earlier than the ninth century. The subject matter of myth and legend, however, may be much older. One thing is certain. These songs were collected in Iceland and by an Icelander. In order to understand something of the sources of this collection, it must be remembered that Iceland was peopled, probably in the ninth century, by Norwegians who fled from the oppression caused by the introduction into their country of feudalism. They brought with them their skalds or bards. They brought also their religious beliefs, their legends and traditions, perhaps songs and hymns which they had loved in the old home. For a century they retained their pagan beliefs. Then the island was converted to Christianity. Two or three centuries later someone foresaw the value of these old songs which had grown up and been preserved by oral transmission much as were the early English ballads, or else had a passion for what was old, and collected them in writing. Meanwhile the religion of Odin had disappeared from the mainland also, and with it had gone the songs and stories which would have been lost but for their preservation in Iceland. The Elder Edda consists of thirty-eight songs and is divided into two parts. The first part contains all the poems relating to the creation of the world, the origin of man, and the happiness or misery of the future life. It also contains those poems which recount stories of the gods. The first poem is the most remarkable and probably the most ancient. It is called the Voluspa, which means the Prophecy of the Volva or Sibyl. "She sings of the world before the gods were made, of the coming and of the meeting of the Aesir, of the origin of the giants, dwarfs, and men, of the happy beginning of all things, and the sad ending that shall be in the chaos of Ragnarok." The second part of the Elder Edda contains a long series of poems relating to the two heroic families of the Volsungs and the Niblungs. These stories are universal among Teutonic peoples. They form the foundation of the Niebelungen Lied of the Germans. No translation can give an adequate idea of the early Norse songs. A few selections, however, may be of interest. They are from the translation of R. B. Anderson. Longfellow has written a poem, The Challenge of Thor, after the manner of these Icelandic songs, commencing: I am the God Thor, I am the War God, I am the Thunderer! Here in my Northland, My fastness and fortress, Reign I forever! See ICELAND; MYTHOLOGY; AESIR; THOR; BALLAD; BALDUR; FEUDALISM. The golden age of the gods, when On the green they played In joyful mood, Nor knew at all The want of good. . . . Of Ymir's flesh Was earth created, Of his blood the sea, Of his bones the hills, Of his hair trees and plants, Of his skull the heavens, And of his brows The gentle powers Formed Midgard for the sons of men; But of his brain The heavy clouds are All created. --Eddas (Anderson).