Early Icelandic literature included the so-called Snorra-Edda
or Prose Edda. The term Edda is of doubtful origin. It may be derived
from the Old Norse word edda (great-grandmother), but more likely
refers to Oddi, a seat of culture in southern Iceland. (Oddi
was the residence, at different times, of Sæmundur Sigfússon,
a learned cleric once thought to have compiled the Poetic Edda,
and Snorri Sturluson,
who is known to have written the
Prose Edda. It is also possible that the term refers to the
Old Norse word óðr ("poetry").
The Poetic Edda, also called Elder Edda (9th-12th century),
is a group of more than 30 poems on the Scandinavian and Germanic gods
and on human heroes. Some of these poems may possibly have been composed
outside Iceland, but they were first written down there in the 12th century.
And all the work of the students in
the 3rd class of ML is based on the Elder Edda.