Exeter Book Riddle 47 (according to the numbering of the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records) is one of the most famous of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book. Its solution is 'book-worm' or 'moth'.
Original | Formal equivalence | Translation |
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form in text | headword form | grammatical information | key meanings |
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ic | ic | personal pronoun | I |
cwide | cwide | masculine strong noun | utterance, sentence, saying |
forswealg | for-swelgan | strong verb | swallow up, consume |
fræt | fretan | strong verb | devour, eat, consume, gnaw away |
gied | giedd | neuter strong noun | poem, song, report, tale, utterance, saying |
glēawra | glēaw | adjective | wise, discerning, prudent |
hē | hē | personal pronoun | he |
moððe | moððe | feminine weak noun | moth |
ond | and | conjunction | and |
ne | ne | negative particle | not |
se | se | masculine demonstrative pronoun | that |
stælgiest | stæl-giest | masculine strong noun | stealing guest, theft-guest |
staþol | staðol | masculine strong noun | base, foundation, support |
strang | strang | adjective | strong, powerful, bold, brave, severe |
sumes | sum | indefinite pronoun | a certain one, someone, something |
swealg | swelgan | strong verb | swallow |
þā | þā | adverb | then, when |
þām | se | demonstrative pronoun | that |
þæt | þæt | 1. neuter demonstrative pronoun 2. adverb | 1. it, that 2. so that |
þe | þe | relative particle | who, which, that |
þēof | þēof | masculine strong noun | criminal, thief, robber |
þrymfæstne | þrym-fæst | adjective | glorious, noble, mighty |
þuhte | þyncan | weak verb | seem |
þȳ | þæt | demonstrative pronoun | it, that |
þȳstro | þēostru | feminine noun | darkness |
wæs | wesan | irregular verb | be |
wera | wer | masculine strong noun | man |
wihte | wihte | adverb | at all |
word | word | neuter strong noun | word, utterance |
wordum | word | neuter strong noun | word, utterance |
wrǣtlicu | wrǣtlic | adjective | wondrous, strange; artistic, ornamental |
wyrd | wyrd | feminine strong noun | event, fate |
wyrm | wyrm | masculine strong noun | worm, maggot |
The extensive commentary on this riddle is concisely summarised by Cavell, [2] and more fully by Foys. [3]
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Exeter Book Riddle 83 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book. Its interpretation has occasioned a range of scholarly investigations, but it is taken to mean 'Ore/Gold/Metal', with most commentators preferring 'precious metal' or 'gold', and John D. Niles arguing specifically for the Old English solution ōra, meaning both 'ore' and 'a kind of silver coin'.
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Exeter Book Riddle 60 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book. The riddle is usually solved as 'reed pen', although such pens were not in use in Anglo-Saxon times, rather being Roman technology; but it can also be understood as 'reed pipe'.
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The Exeter Book riddles are a fragmentary collection of verse riddles in Old English found in the later tenth-century anthology of Old English poetry known as the Exeter Book. Today standing at around ninety-four, the Exeter Book riddles account for almost all the riddles attested in Old English, and a major component of the otherwise mostly Latin corpus of riddles from early medieval England.
Exeter Book Riddle 30 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book. Since the suggestion of F. A. Blackburn in 1901, its solution has been agreed to be the Old English word bēam, understood both in its primary sense 'tree' but also in its secondary sense 'cross'.
Exeter Book Riddle 24 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book. The riddle is one of a number to include runes as clues: they spell an anagram of the Old English word higoræ 'jay, magpie'. There has, therefore, been little debate about the solution.
Exeter Book Riddle 45 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book. Its solution is accepted to be 'dough'. However, the description evokes a penis becoming erect; as such, Riddle 45 is noted as one of a small group of Old English riddles that engage in sexual double entendre, and thus provides rare evidence for Anglo-Saxon attitudes to sexuality, and specifically for women taking the initiative in heterosexual sex.
Exeter Book Riddle 44 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book. Its solution is accepted to be 'key'. However, the description evokes a penis; as such, Riddle 44 is noted as one of a small group of Old English riddles that engage in sexual double entendre, and thus provides rare evidence for Anglo-Saxon attitudes to sexuality.
Exeter Book Riddle 25 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book. Suggested solutions have included Hemp, Leek, Onion, Rosehip, Mustard and Phallus, but the consensus is that the solution is Onion.
Exeter Book Riddle 65 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book. Suggested solutions have included Onion, Leek, and Chives, but the consensus is that the solution is Onion.
Exeter Book Riddle 33 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book. Its solution is accepted to be 'Iceberg'. The most extensive commentary on the riddle is by Corinne Dale, whose ecofeminist analysis of the riddles discusses how the iceberg is portrayed through metaphors of warrior violence but at the same time femininity.
Exeter Book Riddle 12 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book. Its solution is accepted to be 'ox/ox-hide'. The riddle has been described as 'rather a cause celebre in the realm of Old English poetic scholarship, thanks to the combination of its apparently sensational, and salacious, subject matter with critical issues of class, sex, and gender'. The riddle is also of interest because of its reference to an enslaved person, possibly ethnically British.
Exeter Book Riddle 61 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book. The riddle is usually solved as 'shirt', 'mailcoat' or 'helmet'. It is noted as one of a number of Old English riddles with sexual connotations and as a source for gender-relations in early medieval England.
Exeter Book Riddle 7 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book, in this case on folio 103r. The solution is believed to be 'swan' and the riddle is noted as being one of the Old English riddles whose solution is most widely agreed on. The riddle can be understood in its manuscript context as part of a sequence of bird-riddles.
Exeter Book Riddle 26 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book.
Exeter Book Riddle 9 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book, in this case on folio 103r–v. The solution is believed to be 'cuckoo'. The riddle can be understood in its manuscript context as part of a sequence of bird-riddles.