either of two distinct works in Old Icelandic dating from the late 13th century and consisting of 34 mythological and heroic ballads composed between 800 and 1200; the primary source for Scandinavian mythology
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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.
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.