The Veda is actually four different books, which is why you'll often hear it called "the Vedas", plural They are in a language called the Vedic, an archaic form of Sanskrit.
Though the Vedic hymns had been known for a long-long time, they were finally compiled into one large edition by the great sage Vyasa sometime before 1500 B.C.E. He then organized the Veda into the four books.
The most important of these is the Rig Veda, a collection of 1,017 hymns to a wide assortment of gods, arranged in ten sections. The Sana Veda is mostly a selection of hymns taken straight from the Rig Veda. The big difference is that the Sana Veda is specially notated with melodies so that rather than just chanting these hymns, you can sing them.
The Yajur Veda hymns are used specifically for certain types of sacrifices, not just for singing or chanting of The Atharva Veda is in some ways the most practical of all the Vedas. It contains hymns for a variety of useful purposes including attracting lovers, subduing enemies, regulating the weather, and curing diseases such as urinary track infections!
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