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?
ooh, good thought, Jackie. beats mine, which I wisely kept to myslef...
my thoughts run to:
a bowl of dough (yeasted)
or
a woman's pregnant belly!
but i don't think either one quite fits...
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!
I was thinking of dough or a gravid uterus too. I love old riddles like this.
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.
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.
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'.
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.
Well, hrægl is pretty consistently translated as garment or raiment. I just assumed it had more to do with tipping the choice towards the bawdier answer.
The word "hrægl" sounded familiar to me, probably due to the fact that I studied OE in college, but it got me to thinking, thus I checked into a few things and it would appear that it depends on how one wants to translate the word.
This web-site http://www.iath.virginia.edu:8090/OEAerobics/OEAerobics?action=glosentry&itemid=xhraegl
Gives the information that I learned while studying OE. As you can see from looking at this that it would be easy for one to say that the Lords Daughter used her "cloth" to cover the bread instead of the given translation of "dress.”
Anyway, I just thought I would add in my two cents worth of commentary.
Rev. Alimae
thanks alimae-- i was thinking about this the other day.
in judism, its still common to have a special cloth to wrap the bread in (for sabbath). and a special blessing is said over the bread (it being sybolic of all food)
i wonder if some of this wasn't common in all religions in times past. many catholic rituals echo customs of judism, it wasn't that long ago that good catholic women keep their their hair covered when out in public (and traditionally, christian woman still do in church)
the lady of the house, might well have been the person 'who made the bread' (even if she didn't!) and she might have well been responsible for making a cloth to cover it, as it was brought to the table. i guess i was half thinking that as i suggested dought to begin with.