[90] _Edda_ signifies grandmother. Some regard it as the feminine of _othr_, or _odr_, wisdom.
[91] This language is so called because still spoken in Iceland. Its proper name is the Norræna Tunga (_northern tongue_). It was the common language of the whole North.
[92] See Tales and Popular Fictions, chap. ix.
[93] It was first published by Resenius in 1665.
[94] By the Æser are understood the Asiatics, who with Odin brought their arts and religion into Scandinavia. This derivation of the word, however, is rather dubious. Though possibly the population and religion of Scandinavia came originally from Asia there seems to be no reason whatever for putting any faith in the legend of Odin. It is not unlikely that the name of their gods, Æser, gave birth to the whole theory. It is remarkable that the ancient Etrurians also should have called the gods Æsar.
[95] So the lötunn or Giant Vafthrudnir to Odin in the Vafthrudnismal.--Strophe vii.
[96] Thorlacius, Noget om Thor og hans Hammer, in the Skandinavisk Museum for 1803.
[97] Thorlacius, _ut supra_, says the thundering Thor was regarded as particularly inimical to the Skovtrolds, against whom he continually employed his mighty weapon. He thinks that the _Bidental_ of the Romans, and the rites connected with it, seem to suppose a similar superstition, and that in the well-known passage of Horace,
Tu parum castis inimica mittes Fulmina lucis,
the words _parum castis lucis_ may mean groves or parts of woods, the haunt of unclean spirits or Skovtrolds, _satyri lascivi et salaces_. The word _Trold_ will be explained below.
[98] The Dark Alfs were probably different from the Duergar, yet the language of the prose Edda is in some places such as to lead to a confusion of them. The following passage, however, seems to be decisive:
Náir, Dvergar _Ok_ Döck-A'lfar. Hrafna-Galdr Othins, xxiv. 7.
Yet the Scandinavian literati appear unanimous in regarding them as the same. Grimm, however, agrees with us in viewing the Döck-Alfar as distinct from the Duergar. As the abode of these last is named Svartálfaheimr, he thinks that the Svartálfar and the Duergar were the same.--Deutsche Mythologie, p. 413, _seq._ See below, _Isle of Rügen_.
[99] The ash-tree, Yggdrasil, is the symbol of the universe, the Urdar-fount is the fount of light and heat, which invigorates and sustains it. A good representation of this myth is given in Mr. Bohn's edition of Mallet's "Northern Antiquities," which the reader is recommended to consult.