Ĕd'da, n.

n. [Icel., literally great-grandmother (i. e., of Scandinavian poetry), so called by Bishop Brynjúlf Sveinsson, who brought it again to light in 1643.] The religious or mythological book of the old Scandinavian tribes of German origin, containing two collections of Sagas of the old northern gods and heroes.

☞ There are two Eddas. The earliest contains the mythology of the Scandinavians, with some historical narrations of a romantic cast, embodied in thirty-nine poems, of unknown authorship and date, which were collected by Sämund Sigfusson, an Icelandic priest, who was born in 1056, and in honor of whom the book is sometimes called the “Sämundic Edda.” The second is a collection of the myths of the gods, and of explanations of the types and meters of the pagan poetry, intended for the instruction of the young scalds, or poets. It is chiefly in prose, and is the work of several writers, although ascribed to Snorro Sturleson, who was born in 1178, and from whom it is called the “Edda of Snorro.” New Am. Cyc.