Laufás-Edda

Laufás-Edda is an Icelandic manuscript dating from the early 17th Century.

Laufás Edda (Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar) was written on the request of the Icelandic scholar Arngrímur Jónsson. Magnús Ólafsson (c.1573–1636), an Icelandic priest and poet, complied the document during the winter of 1608-9. Magnús Ólafsson would later serve as the priest at Laufás parish in Northern Iceland and as a consequence his version of Edda subsequently come to be referred to as the Laufás Edda.

The purpose of his efforts was to make a systematic and encyclopedic version of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda. Laufás Edda was a rearranged version of Snorri's work. The myths in Gylfaginning are presented as a series of examples and the kennings of Skáldskaparmál are organized alphabetically. The last part, Háttatal, was not included.

The Laufás Edda of Magnús Ólafsson was first published during 1665 in Copenhagen, accompanied by a Danish and Latin translation. The result became a convenient and popular work of reference for poets and antiquarians, serving as a dictionary for researching both myth and poetic expression.

Primary Source

• Anthony Faulkes, ed., Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century, 1: Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda); 2: Edda Islandorum: Völuspá, Hávamál (Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi, 1979)

Other sources

• Faulkes, Anthony (1993) Magnusarkver: The writings of Magnus Olafsson of Laufas (Reykjavík : Stofnun Árna Magnússonar) ISBN 978-9979819547
• Adalsteinsson, Ragnar Ingi (2014) Traditions and Continuities: Alliteration in Old and Modern Icelandic Verse (University of Iceland Press) ISBN 9789935230454

External links

• Newly discovered manuscript of Magnús Ólafsson’s Edda
• Specimen Lexici Runici compiled by Magnús Ólafsson
• Magnús Ólafsson biografi (In Danish)