Edda, title applied to two distinct works in Old Icelandic. The Poetic Edda, or Elder Edda, is a collection (late 13th cent.) of 34 mythological and heroic lays, most of which were composed c.800-c.1200, probably in Iceland or W Norway. Despite uncritical arrangement and textual corruption, the Poetic Edda is the most valuable collection of texts in Old Norse literature. See English translations by L. M. Hollander (2d ed. 1962), P. B. Taylor and W. H. Auden (1969), and U. Dronke (Vol. I, 1969). The Prose Edda, or Younger Edda, was probably written c.1222 by Snorri Sturluson as a guide to the scaldic poetry of Iceland. The first two parts constitute an account of Scandinavian mythology and are the prime source on the subject; the third part is a compendium of the complex diction of scaldic poetry; the fourth, a treatise on the meters employed. Abridged translations of the Prose Edda, treating primarily the first mythical part, have been made by J. I. Young (new ed. 1966).

Body of ancient Icelandic literature. Contained in two 13th-century books, it is the fullest and most detailed source for modern knowledge of Germanic mythology. The Prose Edda (Younger Edda, or Snorra-Edda; circa 1222), a handbook on poetics by Snorri Sturluson, explains diction and metre in skaldic and Eddic poetry and recounts tales from Norse mythology. The Poetic Edda (Elder Edda, or Sæmundar Edda; circa 1250–1300) is a collection of mythological and heroic poems of unknown authorship composed circa 800–1100. These austere lays are the oldest surviving antecedents of the Nibelungenlied legends.

Learn more about Edda with a free trial on Britannica.com.