Why is the Poetic Edda also called the Elder Edda?

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Hallgrímsson, Jónas — Icelandic literature Jónas Hallgrímsson.

The Poetic Edda is referred to as the Elder Edda because, although the manuscript itself dates to the second half of the 13th century, it contains mythological and heroic poems that were composed much earlier, between approximately 800 and 1100 CE.12

This collection is distinguished from the Prose Edda (also known as the Younger Edda), which was written by the Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson around 1222–23. While the term Edda originally applied to Snorri's work, the Poetic Edda—often associated with the Codex Regius manuscript—is labeled "Elder" to reflect the ancient nature of the material it preserves, which predates the 13th-century prose textbook.13