EDDA

The ancient collection of Scand in avian poetry in which the national mythology is contained. There are two Eddas: the older is believed to have been reduced to writing, from oral tradition, in Iceland, between a. d. 1050 and 1133. It was recovered and published in Denmark in 1643. The new Edda, supposed to have been composed 200 years after the former, is an abridgment of it, with a new arrangement of its parts. It was translated by Re senius in 1640, and is thence called the Resenian Edda. The authenticity of these monuments of an early age has been doubted in recent times, but the latest researches of critics (the brothers Grimm and others) seem to go far towards establishing it. (See the Penny Cyclopaedia.) EDDY (Sax. ed, water, and ea, backwards), is the water of a stream or tide which, in consequence of striking against some obstacle, is thrown backwards, and runs in a direction opposite to that of the general current. More frequently, however, the term is used to denote the whirling or circular motion caused by the meeting of two opposite currents: and, in this sense, it is also applied to a similar motion of the atmosphere. See Whirlpool, Whirlwind. EDENTALS, Edentata. The name of an order of Mammals, including those genera in which the dental apparatus is more or le incomplete: the incisive teeth are almost always deficient. [s. 400]