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Origin and history of Edda

Edda(n.)

1771, by some identified with the name of the old woman (literally "grandmother") in the Old Norse poem "Rigsþul," by others derived from Old Norse oðr "spirit, mind, passion, song, poetry" (cognate with Old Irish faith "poet," Welsh gwawd "poem," Old English woþ "sound, melody, song," Latin vates "seer, soothsayer;" see wood (adj.)).

It is the name given in Icelandic c. 1300, by whom it is not known, to two Icelandic books, the first a miscellany of poetry, mythology, and grammar by Snorri Sturluson (d.1241), since 1642 called the Younger or Prose Edda; and a c. 1200 collection of ancient Germanic poetry and religious tales, called the Elder or Poetic Edda. Related: Eddaic; Eddic.

also from 1771

Entries linking to Edda

wood(adj.)

"violently insane, mad, frantic" (senses now obsolete), Middle English wode, from Old English wod "mad, frenzied," from Proto-Germanic *woda-, reconstructed in Watkins to be from PIE *wet- (1) "to blow; inspire, spiritually arouse," source of Latin vates "seer, poet," Old Irish faith "poet;" "with a common element of mental excitement" [Buck].

Germanic cognates include Gothic woþs "possessed, mad," Old High German wuot "mad, madness," German wut "rage, fury." Also compare Old English woþ "sound, melody, song," Old Norse oðr "poetry," and the god-name Odin.

To do something "like mad" in Middle English might be to do it woodiwise (c. 1300) or for wood (late 14c.). Brain-wood was "mindless, out of control;" word-wood "unrestrained in speech."

Potential confusions with wood (n.) might have discouraged its use. The same verb, wõden, in 15c. could mean "take to the woods" (from hunting) or "be or go mad, rave, rage."

Related: Woodship "state of madness, frenzy, rage;" woodness, woodhede "unsoundness of mind, mental disorder."

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Trends of Edda

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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lay

"to cause to lie or rest," Old English lecgan "to place on the ground (or other surface); place in an orderly fashion," also "put down" (often by striking), from Proto-Germanic *lagojanan (source also of Old Saxon leggian, Old Norse leggja, Old Frisian ledza, Middle Dutch legghan

faith

mid-13c., faith, feith, fei, fai "faithfulness to a trust or promise; loyalty to a person; honesty, truthfulness," from Anglo-French and Old French feid, foi "faith, belief, trust, confidence; pledge" (11c.), from Latin fides "trust, faith, confidence, reliance, credence, belief,

vates

1620s, "poet or bard," specifically "Celtic divinely inspired poet" (1728), from Latin vates "sooth-sayer, prophet, seer," from a Celtic source akin to Old Irish faith "poet," Welsh gwawd "poem," from PIE root *wet- (1) "to blow; inspire, spiritually arouse" (source also of Old E

root

"underground, downward-growing part of a plant," late Old English rōt and in part from a Scandinavian cognate akin to Old Norse rot "root," figuratively "cause, origin," from Proto-Germanic *wrot (source also of Old English wyrt "root, herb, plant," Old High German wurz, German W

remote

mid-15c., "distant in place, apart, removed, not near," from Latin remotus "afar off, remote, distant in place," past participle of removere "move back or away, take away, put out of view, subtract," from re- "back, away" (see re-) + movere "to move" (from PIE root *meue- "to pus

abrupt

1580s, "sudden, unceremonious, without notice," a figurative use from Latin abruptus "broken off," also "precipitous, steep" (as a cliff), also "disconnected," past participle of abrumpere "break off," from ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + rumpere "to break," from a nasalized form

thank

Old English þancian, þoncian "to give thanks, thank, to recompense, to reward," from Proto-Germanic *thankōjanan (source also of Old Saxon thancon, Old Norse þakka, Danish takke, Old Frisian thankia, Old High German danchon, Middle Dutch, Dutch, German danken "to thank"), from *t

firmament

mid-13c., "expanse of space above the earth where the heavenly bodies move," hence "the arch or vault of the heavens, the visible sky" (c. 1300), from Old French firmament or directly from Latin firmamentum "firmament," literally "a support, a strengthening," from firmus "strong,

bolt

Old English bolt "short, stout arrow with a heavy head;" also "crossbow for throwing bolts," from Proto-Germanic *bultas (source also of Old Norse bolti, Danish bolt, Dutch bout, German Bolzen), perhaps originally "arrow, missile," and from PIE *bheld- "to knock, strike" (source

coffee

"drink made from the ground and roasted seeds of a tree originally native to Arabia and Abyssinia," c. 1600, from Dutch koffie, from Turkish kahveh, from Arabic qahwah "coffee," which Arab etymologists connected with a word meaning "wine," but it is perhaps rather from the Kaffa

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