Chapter published in:
Dating the Old Norse Poetic Edda : A multifactorial analysis of linguistic features
Christopher D. Sapp
[Studies in Germanic Linguistics 5] 2022
► pp. 15–56

Chapter 2
Previous scholarship and methodological considerations

Article outline
  • 2.1The debate on the age of Eddic and skaldic poetry
    • 2.1.1Early speculation; early scholarship
    • 2.1.2More recent scholarship
    • 2.1.3Dating skaldic poetry
  • 2.2Literary scholarship on individual poems
    • 2.2.1 Vǫluspá (Vsp)
    • 2.2.2 Hávamál (Háv)
    • 2.2.3 Vafþrúðnismál (Vm)
    • 2.2.4 Grímnismál (Grm)
    • 2.2.5 Skírnismál (Skm)
    • 2.2.6 Hárbarðsljóð (Hrbl)
    • 2.2.7 Hymiskviða (Hym)
    • 2.2.8 Lokasenna (Ls)
    • 2.2.9 Þrymskviða (Þrk)
    • 2.2.10 Vǫlundarkviða (Vkv)
    • 2.2.11 Alvíssmál (Alv)
    • 2.2.12The Helgi poems: HH I, HHv, and HH II
    • 2.2.13 Grípisspá (Grp)
    • 2.2.14Young Sigurðr poems: Rm, Fm, and Sd
    • 2.2.15Elegiac poems: Br, Sg, Gðr I, Hlr, Gðr II–III, and Od
    • 2.2.16 Atlakviða (Akv)
    • 2.2.17 Atlamál in grœnlenzku (Am)
    • 2.2.18 Guðrúnarhvǫt (Ghv)
    • 2.2.19 Hamðismál (Hm)
    • 2.2.20The Eddic appendix: Bdr, Rþ, Hdl, Grt, and Svm
    • 2.2.21Summary of proposed dates
  • 2.3Linguistic and metrical methods for dating Old Norse poetry
    • 2.3.1Why linguistic and metrical criteria?
    • 2.3.2The particle of/um
    • 2.3.3Alliteration of *vr- with r-
    • 2.3.4Contracted vs. hiatus forms
    • 2.3.5Syncope
    • 2.3.6Mythological kennings
    • 2.3.7Kuhn’s laws and Fremdstofflieder hypothesis
    • 2.3.8Other criteria for dating Eddic poetry
    • 2.3.9Dating skaldic poetry
  • 2.4My assumptions and methods
    • 2.4.1Dating the extant poem
    • 2.4.2Selection of my dating features
  • Notes