Have you ever read the Edda? And if you have do you have a favorite translation?

I have read the Eddas, as well as the Sagas. I’m sad to say not in the original (I’ve done Beowulf in the original) because my West Saxon Old English is a lot better than my mostly non-existent Old Norse.

In terms of translation, I’m not a germanic linguist (and only about 50% of a Slavic one) so I’m not competent to judge the accuracy of any one version. For convenience in research I often use Henry Adams Bellows’s 1936 version, because it’s in the public domain. If I magically had a lot of money, I’d use Ursula Dronke’s translation, as it’s (as far as I know) far and away regarded as one of the best.

For the Sagas (I know you didn’t ask, but I’m telling you anyway) I use whichever translations I can get my hands on. Obviously the Penguin edition has some nice translations in it, but I’ve yet to see an anthology with a single translator that I like.

(Nostalgically, btw, I love Roger Lancelyn Green’s retellings of the Edda, but that’s mainly because I read them as a child.)

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