Glossary to the Poetic Edda

It was the needs of students with a limited knowledge of German or of modern Scandinavian languages that urged the creation of an English- language glossary to the 'Poetic Edda'. Such students have hitherto had to rely on the rich but sometimes confusing help of Cleasby-\/igfusson in their approach to eddic poetry. A dedicated - not to mention affordable and portable - dictionary will facilitate and stimulate the study of this remarkable collection of poems. Since the only complete edition of the eddic corpus currently available is Kuhn's, to which moreover his 'Kurzes Worterbuch' is especially tailored, these two works have been chosen as a basis for a glossary in English. Kuhn's definitions and translations have been examined in the light of those given in other dictionaries and in the standard commentaries and his suggestions have been altered when those of others seemed more plausible. To direct the interested student to the sources of the often widely varying interpretations offered for cruces and other passages abbreviated references to other dictionaries and to the available commentaries, as well as to those articles and books whose explanations seem most enlightening have been included. Some proper names have been added, as have been certain words overlooked by Kuhn and numerous passages which his dictionary does not mention. Tentative translations are offered for some of the many 'cruces' which Kuhn regarded as obscure and therefore untranslatable. The new glossary takes into account the vocabulary of two poems which he omitted from his edition, namely 'Grogaldr' and 'Fiolsvinnsmal'. To extend the range of editions with which the present glossary can be used, all headwords are given in conventional normalized form, to which the forms adopted by Kuhn are cross-referenced.