Prose Edda
<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" lang="en" ><i>Prose Edda</i></h1>
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<td >Part of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Old_Norse_language" title="Category:Old Norse language" >a series</a> on</td>
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<div ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Old_Norse_origin" title="List of English words of Old Norse origin" >English words of
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<p >The <i><b>Prose Edda</b></i>, also known as the <i><b>Younger Edda</b></i>, <i><b>Snorri's Edda</b></i> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_language" title="Icelandic language" >Icelandic</a>: <i><b>Snorra Edda</b></i>) or simply <i><b>Edda</b></i>, is an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Norse" title="Old Norse" >Old Norse</a> compilation made in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland" title="Iceland" >Iceland</a> in the early 13th century. Together with the <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetic_Edda" title="Poetic Edda" >Poetic Edda</a></i>, it comprises the major store of Scandinavian mythology. The work is often assumed to have been written, or at least compiled, by the Icelandic scholar and historian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snorri_Sturluson" title="Snorri Sturluson" >Snorri Sturluson</a> around the year 1220.
It begins with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euhemerism" title="Euhemerism" >euhemerized</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prologue_(Prose_Edda)" title="Prologue (Prose Edda)" >Prologue</a>, a section on the Norse cosmogony, pantheon and myths.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prose_Edda#cite_note-1" >[1]</a></sup> This is followed by three distinct books: <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gylfaginning" title="Gylfaginning" >Gylfaginning</a></i> (consisting of around 20,000 words), <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sk%C3%A1ldskaparm%C3%A1l" title="Skáldskaparmál" >Skáldskaparmál</a></i> (around 50,000 words) and<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1ttatal" title="Háttatal" >Háttatal</a></i> (around 20,000 words). Seven manuscripts, dating from around 1300 to around 1600, have independent textual value. Sturluson planned the collection as a textbook. It was to enable Icelandic poets and readers to understand the subtleties of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliterative_verse" title="Alliterative verse" >alliterative verse</a>, and to grasp the meaning behind the many <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenning" title="Kenning" >kenningar</a> (compounds) that were used in skaldic poetry.
The <i>Prose Edda</i> was originally referred to as simply the <i>Edda</i>, but was later called the <i>Prose Edda</i> to distinguish it from the <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetic_Edda" title="Poetic Edda" >Poetic Edda</a></i>, a collection of anonymous poetry from earlier traditional sources compiled around the same time as the<i>Prose Edda</i> in 13th century Iceland.<sup id="cite_ref-FAULKESXI_2-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prose_Edda#cite_note-FAULKESXI-2" >[2]</a></sup> The <i>Prose Edda</i> is related to the <i>Poetic Edda</i> in that the <i>Prose Edda</i> cites various poems collected in the <i>Poetic Edda</i> as sources.<sup id="cite_ref-BYOCKIX_3-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prose_Edda#cite_note-BYOCKIX-3" >[3]</a></sup></p>
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