Edda Translations

I have been working, somewhat sporadically, over the last two years in translating the Eddas from a 2017 reprint by Jan Kjærstad of Ivar Mortensson-Egnund’s 1908 Nynorsk Edda-kvede and Erik Eggen’s 1967 Snorre Edda into English. So far, I have completed two poems: Voluspå and Håvamål of the Elder Edda (Edda-kvede).

The Eddas are two very important pieces of originally Old Norse literature, which combine both descriptions of Norse mythology with recounts of historical events, many of which have since been verified to actually have taken place.

I have remained very literal in my translations, so the English might not make very much sense. I did this because I wanted to see how the Nynorsk version was fit into verse, and all the metaphors for which skaldic poetry is known (which are easier for me to parse out in English than Norwegian). For this reason, the translations are heavily annotated to make following the actual poetry easier.

In translating, I consulted Crawford’s The Wanderer’s Hávamál, which is in Old Norse and English, and Hermann Pálsson’s Icelandic version of Hávamál. I have fully annotated my own translation of Voluspå, and, at this time, only partially annotated my own translation of Håvamål.