The Saga of Vanadís, Völva and Valkyrja

eing corrected, and even whole words being replaced by others. Anyone who has written
anything knows how misspelling can elude your sight, and this may have been true for
the writers of old as well, so mistakes may have gone unnoticed and become a mystery or
misunderstanding for coming generations.
I will not try to interpret or give an idea of Völuspá as a whole, other than
necessary for the understanding of my thesis. For those who want to look at the rest I
suggest that they read several different translations, since that gives the reader a
possibility to choose her or his own understanding.
The oldest written versions of Völuspá, as mentioned, are from the late 13 th and
14 th century Codex Regius and Hauksbók, as well as the Snorra Edda manuscripts from
the early 13 th century. Those three versions are all different on various points. The
Snorra Edda version is not put forth as a whole poem (from beginning to end), but
stanzas are quoted as sources for the myths and ideas Snorri recites. The Hauksbók
version is the youngest and Codex Regius is usually seen as more original. That’s not
necessarily so, however, since both are recorded centuries after the poem is created, both
have dwelled in the memory of women and men, both are most likely recorded by men
into these very manuscripts. A woman who immigrated from Island to Canada in the late
19th century taught her grandson the Hauksbók version, which had not been printed and
she therefore had never read, but learned as a girl from her grandmothers (Haraldur
Bessason, 1995, personal communication). There is a considerable difference between the
two versions, mostly in the sequence of the stanzas, and some stanzas differ slightly or
even significantly, others are only found in one or the other version. I will mainly refer to
the Codex Regius, although I use the Hauksbók version and Snorra Edda as well to
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