Eddas

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Edda \Ed"da\, n.; pl. {Eddas}. [Icel., lit. great-grandmother
     (i. e., of Scandinavian poetry), so called by Bishop
     Brynj['u]lf 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


     (legends, myths) of the old northern gods and heroes.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: There are two Eddas. The older, consisting of 39 poems,
           was reduced to writing from oral tradition in Iceland
           between 1050 and 1133. The younger or {prose Edda},
           called also the {Edda of Snorri}, is the work of
           several writers, though usually ascribed to Snorri
           Sturleson, who was born in 1178. Eddaic