View source for Prose Edda

{{Short description|13th-century Icelandic book on Norse mythology}}
{{italic title}}
{{Old Norse topics}}
[[File:Edda.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Title page of a late manuscript of the '''''Prose Edda''''' written by [[Snorri Sturluson]] (13th century), showing the [[List of Germanic deities|Ancient Norse Gods]] [[Odin]], [[Heimdallr]], [[Sleipnir]], and other figures from [[Norse mythology]]]]
The '''''Prose Edda''''', also known as the '''''Younger Edda''''', '''''Snorri's Edda''''' ({{langx|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 considered to have been to some extent written, or at least compiled, by the Icelandic scholar, [[lawspeaker]], and historian [[Snorri Sturluson]] {{circa}} 1220. It is considered the fullest and most detailed source for modern knowledge of [[Norse mythology]], the body of [[myth]]s of the [[North Germanic peoples]], and draws from a wide variety of sources, including versions of poems that survive into today in a collection known as the ''[[Poetic Edda]]''.

The ''Prose Edda'' consists of four sections: The [[Prologue (Prose Edda)|Prologue]], a [[euhemerism|euhemerized]] 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 of [[kenning]]s and ''[[heiti]]'' (approximately 50,000 words); and ''[[Háttatal]]'', which discusses the composition of traditional [[skald]]ic poetry (approximately 20,000 words).

Dating from {{circa}} 1300 to 1600, seven manuscripts of the ''Prose Edda'' differ from one another in notable ways, which provides researchers with independent textual value for analysis. The ''Prose Edda'' appears to have functioned similarly to a contemporary textbook, with the goal of assisting Icelandic poets and readers in understanding the subtleties of [[alliterative verse]], and to grasp the meaning behind the many kennings used in skaldic poetry.

Originally known to scholars simply as ''Edda'', the ''Prose Edda'' gained its contemporary name in order to differentiate it from the ''Poetic Edda''. Early scholars of the ''Prose Edda'' suspected that there once existed a collection of entire poems, a theory confirmed with the rediscovery of manuscripts of the ''Poetic Edda''.<ref name="FAULKES-XI">Faulkes (1982: XI).</ref>

==Naming==
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 of [[Oddi]], 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 of [[linguistics]] and [[history]]"<ref name="FAULKES-1982">Faulkes (1982).</ref> since Snorri was no longer living at Oddi when he composed his work.

Another connection was made with the word ''[[óðr]]'', which means 'poetry or inspiration' in Old Norse.<ref name="FAULKES-1982" /> 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", and ''Edda'' in the sense of 'poetics' is not likely to have existed in the preliterary period.<ref name="FAULKES-1977-32-39">Faulkes (1977: 32-39).</ref>

Edda also means 'great-grandparent', a word that appears in ''Skáldskaparmál'', which occurs as the name of a figure in the eddic poem ''[[Rigsthula]]'' and in other medieval texts.

A final hypothesis is derived from the [[Latin]] ''edo'', 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.<ref name="FAULKES-1982"/>

The now uncommonly used name ''Sæmundar Edda'' was given by the [[Bishop]] [[Brynjólfur Sveinsson]] to the collection of poems contained in the [[Codex Regius]], many of which are quoted by Snorri. Brynjólfur, along with many others of his time incorrectly believed that they were collected by [[Sæmundr fróði]]<ref name="GISLI-1999-XIII">Gísli (1999: xiii).</ref> (therefore before the drafting of the Edda of Snorri), and so the Poetic Edda is also known as the Elder Edda.

== Manuscripts ==
Seven manuscripts of the ''Prose 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:<ref name="WANNER-2008-97">Wanner (2008: 97).</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
!scope=col|Name
!scope=col|Current location
!scope=col|Dating
!scope=col|Notes
|-
|Codex Upsaliensis (DG 11)
|[[University of Uppsala]] library, [[Sweden]]
|First quarter of the 14th century.<ref name="ROSS-2011">Ross (2011:151).</ref>
|Provides some variants not found in any of the three other major manuscripts, such as the name ''Gylfaginning''.
|-
|Codex Regius (GKS 2367 4°)
|[[Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies]], [[Reykjavík]], [[Iceland]]
|First half of the 14th century.<ref name="ROSS-2011"/>
|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 the ''Prose Edda''. Its name is derived from its conservation in the [[Royal Library, Copenhagen|Royal 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.<ref name="ROSS-2011"/>
|''None''
|-
|Codex Trajectinus (MSS 1374)
|[[University of Utrecht]] library, [[Netherlands]]
|Written {{circa}} 1600.<ref name="ROSS-2011"/>
|A copy of a manuscript that was made in the second half of the 13th century.
|-
|}
[[File:Snorra edda stemma.svg|thumb|The likely stemma of ''Snorra Edda'', considering only the main source of each manuscript.<ref name="HAUKUR-2017-49-70-589">Based on Haukur (2017: 49–70, esp. p.58)</ref>]]

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 sound [[stemma codicum|stemma]] 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.<ref name="HAUKUR-2017-49-70">Haukur (2017:49–70).</ref> The ''Prose Edda''' remained fairly unknown outside of Iceland until the publication of the ''Edda Islandorum'' in 1665.<ref name="GYLFI-2019">Gylfi (2019: 73-86).</ref>

==Authorship==
The text is generally considered to have been written or at least compiled by [[Snorri Sturluson]]. This identification is largely based on the following paragraph from a portion of Codex Upsaliensis, an early 14th-century manuscript containing the ''Edda'':

{{Verse translation|lang=is
|
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.<ref name="FAULKES-XIII-2005">Faulkes 2005:XIII.</ref>
|
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 about [[Haakon IV of Norway|King Hákon]] and [[Skule Bårdsson|Earl Skúli]].<ref name="FAULKES-XIII-2005"/>
}}

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 of ''Háttatal'' or if he is the author of the entire ''Edda''.<ref name="BYOCKXII">Byock (2006: XII).</ref> Faulkes summarizes the matter of scholarly discourse around the authorship of the ''Prose Edda'' as follows:
:Snorri's authorship of the Prose Edda was upheld by the renaissance scholar [[Arngrímur Jónsson]] (1568–1648), and since his time it has generally been accepted without question. But the surviving manuscripts, which were all written more than half a century after Snorri's death, differ from each other considerably and it is not likely that any of them preserves the work quite as he wrote it. A number of passages in Skáldskaparmál especially have been thought to be interpolations, and this section of the work has clearly been subject to various kinds of revision in most manuscripts. It has also been argued that the prologue and the first paragraph and part of the last paragraph of Gylfaginning are not by Snorri, at least in their surviving forms.<ref name="FAULKES-XIV-2005">Faulkes (2005: XIV).</ref>

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 the ''Edda''.<ref name="BYOCKXII"/>

==Contents==
===Prologue===
{{Main|Prologue (Prose Edda)}}
The Prologue is the first section of four books of the ''Prose Edda'', consisting of a [[euhemerism|euhemerized]] [[Christianity|Christian]] account of the origins of [[Norse mythology]]: the Nordic gods are described as human [[Troy|Trojan]] warriors who left Troy after the fall of that city (an origin which parallels Virgil's ''[[Aeneid]]'').

===''Gylfaginning''===
[[File:Manuscript Gylfi.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Gylfi]] and [[High, Just-as-High, and Third]]. [[Icelandic Manuscript, SÁM 66|Manuscript SAM 66]] (Iceland, 1765–1766), [[Reykjavík]], [[Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies]].]]
{{Main|Gylfaginning}}
''Gylfaginning'' (Old Icelandic 'the tricking of [[Gylfi]]')<ref name="FAULKES-1982-7">Faulkes (1982: 7).</ref> follows the Prologue in the ''Prose Edda''. ''Gylfaginning'' deals with the creation and destruction of the world of the [[Æsir|Nordic gods]], and many other aspects of [[Norse mythology]]. The section is written in prose interspersed with quotes from eddic poetry.

===''Skáldskaparmál''===
[[Image:Treated NKS haustlong.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.13|[[Thjazi]] and [[Loki]]. Beginning of the myth of the abduction of [[Iðunn]], attested in ''Skáldskaparmál''. Manuscript NKS 1867 4to (Iceland, 1760), Copenhagen, Royal Library]]
{{Main|Skáldskaparmál}}
''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Icelandic 'the language of poetry'<ref name="FAULKES-1982-59">Faulkes (1982: 59).</ref>) is the third section of ''Edda'', and consists of a dialogue between [[Ægir]], a [[jötunn]] who is one of various personifications of the sea, and [[Bragi]], a [[skald]]ic 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 systematic [[list of kennings]] for various people, places, and things. Bragi then goes on to discuss poetic language in some detail, in particular ''[[heiti]]'', 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''===
{{Main|Háttatal}}
''Háttatal'' (Old Icelandic "list of verse-forms"<ref name="FAULKES-1982-165">Faulkes (1982: 165).</ref>) is the last section of  ''Prose Edda''. The section is composed by the [[Iceland]]ic [[poet]], politician, and historian [[Snorri 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.

== Translations ==
{{wikisource|Prose Edda}}
The ''Prose Edda'' has been the subject of numerous translations. The most recent ones into English have been by [[Jesse Byock]] (2006), Anthony Faulkes (1987 / 2nd ed. 1995), Jean Young (1954), and [[Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur]] (1916). Many of these translations are abridged; the technical nature of the ''Háttatal'' means it is frequently excluded, and the ''Skáldskaparmál'' often has its more Old Norse thesaurus aspects abridged as well.<ref>Byock 2006: Notes on the Translation</ref><ref>Hopkins 2019</ref>

'''Translations into English'''
* {{cite book | translator-last = Dasent | translator-first = George Webbe |translator-link=George Webbe Dasent | title = The Prose or Younger Edda commonly ascribed to Snorri Sturluson | url = https://archive.org/details/Theproseoryounge000365777v0SnorReyk | year = 1842 | publisher = Norstedt and Sons }}
* {{cite book | translator-last = Anderson | translator-first = Rasmus B. | translator-link = Rasmus B. Anderson | title = The Younger Edda: Also Called Snorre's Edda, or the Prose Edda | publisher = Chicago: Griggs | year = 1880 | url = https://archive.org/details/youngereddaalsoc00snoruoft }} ([https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18947 Project Gutenberg e-text], 1901 ed.; [[s:The Younger Edda (tr. Anderson)|Wikisource edition]].)
* {{cite book | title = The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson; and the Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson | translator-first = Benjamin | translator-last = Thorpe | translator-link = Benjamin Thorpe | translator-first2 = I. A. | translator-last2 = Blackwell | year = 1906 | url = http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14726 }} Compilation of two translations made earlier; Blackwell's translation of the Prose Edda is from 1847.
* {{cite wikisource |title=The Prose Edda |wslink=The Prose Edda (1916) |translator-last=Brodeur |translator-first=Arthur Gilchrist |translator-link=Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur |date=1916 |publisher=The American-Scandinavian Foundation |location= |ref={{harvid|Brodeur|1916}}}}
* {{cite book |title=The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson; Tales from Norse Mythology | translator-first = Jean | translator-last = Young |year=1954 |publisher=Bowes & Bowes }}
* {{cite book |translator-first=Anthony |translator-last=Faulkes|date=1995 |title=Edda |url = http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/SNORRA%20EDDA%20searchable.pdf |location= |publisher=Everyman |isbn=0-460-87616-3 |edition=2nd}}
* {{cite book |translator-last=Byock |translator-first=Jesse |translator-link=Jesse Byock |date=2006 |title=The Prose Edda  |location= |publisher=[[Penguin Classics]] |isbn=978-0-141-91274-5 }}
* {{cite book | editor-first = Heimir | editor-last = Pálsson | translator-first = Anthony | translator-last = Faulkes | title = The Uppsala Edda: DG 11 4to | publisher = London: The Viking Society for Northern Research | year = 2012 | isbn = 978-0-903521-85-7 | url = http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Uppsala%20Edda.pdf }} A version based strictly on the Codex Upsaliensis (DG 11) document; includes both Old Norse and English translation.

'''Translations into other languages'''
*{{cite book | translator-last = Cnattingius | translator-first = Andreas Jacobus | title = Snorre Sturlesons Edda samt Skalda | trans-title  =Snorre Sturleson's Edda and Skalda | url = https://archive.org/details/SnorreSturlesons000365828v0SnorReyk | year = 1819 | language = sv }}
*{{cite book | translator-last = Egilsson | translator-first = Sveinbjörn | translator-link = Sveinbjörn Egilsson | translator-last2 = Sigurðsson | translator-first2 = Jón | translator-link2 = Jón Sigurðsson | translator-last3 = Jónsson | translator-first3 = Finnur | translator-link3 = Finnur Jónsson | title = Edda Snorra Sturlusonar - Edda Snorronis Sturlaei | language = la }}  3 volumes: [https://archive.org/details/eddasnorrasturlu01hafnuoft Vol. 1: Formali, Gylfaginning, Bragaraedur, Skaldskarparmal et Hattatal] (1848), [https://archive.org/details/eddasnorrasturlu02hafnuoft Vol. 2: Tractatus Philologicos et Additamenta ex Codicibus Manuscripts] (1852), [https://archive.org/details/EddaSnorraSturlu000365811v3SnorReyk Vol. 3: Praefationem, Commentarios in Carmina, Skaldatal cum Commentario, Indicem Generalem] (1880–1887)
*{{cite book | translator-last = Wilken | translator-first = Ernst | title = Die prosaische Edda im Auszuge nebst Vǫlsunga-saga und Nornagests-þáttr | trans-title = The Prose Edda in excerpt along with Völsunga saga and Norna-Gests þáttr | series = Bibliothek der ältesten deutschen Literatur-Denkmäler. XI. Band | language = de }}
**{{citation | title = Teil I: Text | url = https://archive.org/details/dieprosaischeedd01snor | orig-year = 1877 | year = 1912 | publisher = Paderborn F. Schöningh }}
**{{citation | title = Teil II: Glossar | url = https://archive.org/details/dieprosaischeedd02snor | orig-year = 1877 | year = 1913 | publisher = Paderborn F. Schöningh }}
* {{cite book | translator-last = Grape | translator-first = Anders | year = 1977 | title = Snorre Sturlusons Edda: Uppsala-Handskriften DH II | oclc = 2915588 | language = is }} , 2 volumes : 1 facsimile; 2 translation and notes
* {{cite book | translator-last = Grape | translator-first = Anders | translator-last2 = Kallstenius | translator-first2 = Gottfrid | translator-last3 = Thorell | translator-first3 = Olod | year = 1977 | title = Snorre Sturlusons Edda: Uppsala-Handskriften DH II | language = sv | oclc = 774703003 }} , 2 volumes : 1 facsimile; 2 translation and notes
* {{cite book | translator-last = Lerate | translator-first = Luis | title = Edda Menor | trans-title  = Younger Edda | publisher = [[Alianza Editorial]] | year = 1984 | isbn = 978-84-206-3142-4 |language = es }}
* {{cite book | translator-last = Dillmann | translator-first = François-Xavier | translator-link = François-Xavier Dillmann | title = L'Edda: Récits de mythologie nordique | trans-title = The Edda: Stories of Norse Myth | year = 1991 | series = L'Aube des peuples | publisher = Gallimard | isbn = 2-07-072114-0 | language = fr }}

== Old Norse editions ==
{{wikisourcelang|is|Snorra Edda}}

*{{citation | editor-first = Sveinbjörn | editor-last = Egilsson | editor-link = Sveinbjörn Egilsson | url = https://archive.org/stream/eddasnorrasturl00egilgoog | title = Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: eða Gylfaginníng, Skáldskaparmál og Háttatal | year = 1848 | publisher = Prentuð i prentsmiðjulandsins, af prentara H. Helgasyni }}
* {{citation | title = Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: með skáldatali | editor-first = Guðni | editor-last = Jónsson | editor-link = Guðni Jónsson | publisher = Reykjavík: S. Kristjánsson | year = 1935 | language = is | url = http://www.heimskringla.no/wiki/Edda_Snorra_Sturlusonar }}
* {{citation | editor-last = Faulkes | editor-first = Anthony | title = Edda }}, Norse text and English notes.
**{{citation | title = Prologue and Gylfaginning | orig-year = 1982 | edition = 2nd | year = 2005 | url  =http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Edda-1.pdf | isbn = 978-0-903521-64-2 | author = Snorri Sturluson }}
**{{citation | title = Skáldskaparmál 1: Introduction, text and notes | year = 1998 | url = http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Edda-2a.pdf | isbn = 978-0-903521-36-9 | author = Snorri Sturluson | publisher = Viking Society for Northern Research }}
**{{citation | title = Skáldskaparmál 2: Glossary and index of names | year = 1998 | url  =http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Edda-2b.pdf | isbn = 978-0-903521-38-3 | author = Snorri Sturluson | publisher = Viking Society for Northern Research }}
**{{citation | title = Háttatal | orig-year = 1991 | edition = 2nd | year = 2007 | url = http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Edda-3.pdf | isbn = 978-0-903521-68-0 | author = Snorri Sturluson }}

==See also==
* [[Edda]]
* [[Saga]]
* ''[[Heimskringla]]''

== Notes ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== References ==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Faulkes |first1=Anthony |title=Edda |journal=Gripla |date=1977 |volume=2 |url=http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Edda.pdf |access-date=8 January 2025}}
*Faulkes, Anthony. Trans. 1982. ''Edda''. Oxford University Press.
*Faulkes, Anthony. 2005. ''Edda'': Prologue and ''Gylfaginning''. Viking Society for Northern Research. [http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Edda-1.pdf Online]. Last accessed August 12, 2020.
*Gísli Sigurðsson. 1999. "''Eddukvæði''". ''Mál og menning''. {{ISBN|9979-3-1917-8}}.
*Gylfi Gunnlaugsson. 2019. "Norse Myths, Nordic Identities: The Divergent Case of Icelandic Romanticism" in Simon Halik (editor). ''Northern Myths, Modern Identities'', 73–86. ISBN 9789004398436_006
*Haukur Þorgeirsson. 2017. "A Stemmic Analysis of the 'Prose Edda'". ''Saga-Book'', 41. [https://www.academia.edu/35399203/ Online]. Last accessed August 12, 2020.
*Hopkins, Joseph S. 2019. "[https://www.mimisbrunnr.info/edda-to-english Edda to English: A Survey of English Language Translations of the ''Prose Edda'']" at Mimisbrunnr.info
*Ross, Margaret Clunies. 2011. ''A History of Old Norse Poetry and Poetics''. DS Brewer. ISBN 978-1-84384-279-8
*Wanner, Kevin J. 2008. ''Snorri Sturluson and the Edda: The Conversion of Cultural Capital in Medieval Scandinavia''. University of Toronto Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8020-9801-6}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* Hopkins, Joseph S. 2019. "[https://www.mimisbrunnr.info/edda-to-english Edda to English: A Survey of English Language Translations of the ''Prose Edda'']" at Mimisbrunnr.info
*{{Wikisource-inline|list=
**''[[s:The Prose Edda (1916)|The Prose Edda]]'', 1916 translation by [[Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur]]
**''[[s:The Younger Edda (tr. Anderson)|The Younger Edda]]'', 1872 translation by [[Rasmus Björn Anderson]]
}}
* {{Gutenberg|no=14726|name=The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson; and the Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson}}, 1906 version of 1847 translation by I. A. Blackwell
* [http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/EDDArestr.pdf ''Edda''], 1995 edition of 1987 translation by Anthony Faulkes
* Langeslag, Paul Sander. ''Undated''. [http://www.septentrionalia.net/etexts/index.php#on "Old Norse editions"] at Septentrionalia.net

{{Prose Edda|state=expanded}}
{{Norse mythology}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Prose Edda| ]]
[[Category:1220s books]]
[[Category:Icelandic literature]]
[[Category:Medieval literature]]
[[Category:Old Norse literature]]
[[Category:Old Norse prose]]
[[Category:Scandinavian folklore]]
[[Category:Works by Snorri Sturluson]]
[[Category:Textbooks]]