|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
OP
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
Here's an Anglo-Saxon riddle (from the Exeter Book MS)? (Also a chance for some of you to see what English looked like back a thousand years or so.)
Ic on wincle gefrægn weaxan nathwæt, þindan ond þunian, þecene hebban. On þæt banlease bryd grapode, hygewlonc hondum, hrægle þeahte þrindende þing þeodnes dohtor.
I have heard of a thing, waxing in a corner, swelling and standing up, raising its covering. A proud woman seized that boneless thing with her hands; the lord's daughter covered that swelling thing with her dress. [translated by F. H. Whitman]
What is it?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
ooh, good thought, Jackie. beats mine, which I wisely kept to myslef...
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
my thoughts run to: a bowl of dough (yeasted) or a woman's pregnant belly!
but i don't think either one quite fits...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Actually, I think dough is better, Helen! I was trying to think of what Anglo-Saxon people might have that they would stand in a corner. And then for some reason I thought of, "The cheese stands alone"! Dough certainly swells; if a cheese does, I don't think they'd leave it standing in the corner!
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
I was thinking of dough or a gravid uterus too. I love old riddles like this.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
OP
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
of troy's got it. The dough has it. At least that's the consensus of Anglo-Saxon riddlers. Another guess by a German scholar was "bee", but I don't see it. Some medieval riddles have answers, but some don't. Anyway, all scholars agree on the <i>double entendre</i> of this boneless one, though being males they think more of the agent of that gravid belly.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
I was forewarned about the open stating of the answer (You oughta do things like that in yellow or white, nuncle to give us latecomers the fun) so I didn't scroll down and I guessed 'dough' (or actually, 'bread'), too. The racy answer requires the two 'things' to be different which it certainly looks like they're not in the modern English. My OE isn't near good enough to tell if that's the case in the original.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
OP
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
Sorry about that, Faldage. Of course, English lady is from Old English hlæfdige literally 'bread-kneader' < hlaf 'loaf, bread' + dige (cf. dough, L fingo 'to paint', figura 'form, shape'.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Dough was my guess too but the only part that doesn't fit is the lord's daughter covering it with her dress. You have to cover dough while it rises but you certainly would never use a dress. Especially a lord's daughter, who, we can assume, would have the luxury of having other pieces of material around.
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,430
Members9,182
|
Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
0 members (),
558
guests, and
1
robot. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|