ED'DA. There are two works which bear this title—the Edda Smmundar bins Praia, or Edda of SEemund the wise, and the Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. The former and older of these is a collection of the most ancient mythological and heroic Scandinavian songs, the date of whose composition may probably be referred to different periods between the 6th and 8th centuries. These songs, which are supposed to have been collected and arranged by Saemund Sigfusson, surnamed Frodi, an Icelandic priest, who was born in 1054, and died in 1133, were discovered and first brought before the notice of European scholars in 1643, by Brynjolf Sveinsson, bishop of Skalholt, who applied to them the name of Edda, or "grandmother." This collection was published entire at Stockholm, 1818, by A. A. Afzelius, after the text of prof. Rask; and at Copenhagen, in 1787 1828, with a Latin translation, glossaries, etc. The third volume of this edition, which was completed by prof. Finn Magnusen, consists chiefly of a very learned and copious lexicon mythologicum by the editor. Complete editions of the text of, this E. were also published by Munch and Mbbius, but all former editions have been superseded by the editions of prof. Bugge of Copenhagen (1867) and of Svendl Grundtvig (1868-74). Hildebrand's text (1876) is tounded on theirs. Simrock made a German translation of
both Eddas in 1851; and both Ettmhller and the brothers Grimm have translated a part of Snmund's Edda. The Snorra Edda is a prose composition, and treats of Scandinavian mythology and of the language and modes of composition of the ancient skalds. As the• name implies, it is referred to Snorri Sturluson (q.v.), the learned author of the Ileimskringla, who was born in Iceland in 1178, and died by assassination in 1241, on his return from Norway, where he had lived in the capacity of skald or court-poet. This E. was first published by P. J. Resen in 1665, under the title Edda Islandorum An. Chr. mccxv. Consmipta per Snorronem Sturlm, etc. A complete edition of the prose E., and the most copious of all, was published at Stockholm by prof. Rask in 1818. The trustees of the Arna-Magnnan legacy in Copenhagen have published an elaborate edition, with a Latin translation and notes; and a German edition of both Eddas, with glossary, etc., was published in 1859 by Luning. A complete English translation of the poetical E., by Ben. Thorpe, was published in 1866. The best English translation of the mythological part of the prose E. is found in a translation of Mallet's Northern Antiqui ties, edited by Blackwall (1847).