The New Student's Reference Work/Edda

Edda (meaning great-grandmother), the name of two very different collections of old Scandinavian literature.  The Younger or prose Edda was written between 1050 and 1133, and discovered in 1628.  The Elder Edda is a collection of songs, mostly Icelandic.  These are 39 poems which sing the praises of old Scandinavian gods and heroes.  They belong probably to the 8th and 9th centuries.  See Iceland, Its Scenes and Sagas, by Baring-Gould.