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'''Exeter Book Riddle 30''' (according to the numbering of the [[Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records]]) is one of the [[Old English]] [[Anglo-Saxon riddles|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 ''bēam'', understood both in its primary sense 'tree' but also in its secondary sense 'cross'.<ref>F. A. Blackburn, "''The Husband's Message'' and the Accompanying Riddles of the Exeter Book", ''JEGP: Journal of English and Germanic Philology'', 3 (1901), 1-11.</ref> |
'''Exeter Book Riddle 30''' (according to the numbering of the [[Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records]]) is one of the [[Old English]] [[Anglo-Saxon riddles|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 ''bēam'', understood both in its primary sense 'tree' but also in its secondary sense 'cross'.<ref>F. A. Blackburn, "''The Husband's Message'' and the Accompanying Riddles of the Exeter Book", ''JEGP: Journal of English and Germanic Philology'', 3 (1901), 1-11.</ref> |
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The riddle is particularly important because it actually appears twice in the Exeter Book, on folios 108r (numbered 30a in the [[Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records]]) and 122v (numbered 30b). This makes it a rare example of an Old English poem surviving in two copies (in this case both by the same scribe). The copies are fairly different, and these differences seem more likely to have arisen from scribal rather than memorial transmission.<ref>Roy M. Liuzza, "The Texts of the Old English ''Riddle 30''", ''JEGP: The Journal of English and Germanic Philology'', 87 (1988), 1-15, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27709946</ref> In the assessment of Roy M. Liuzza, '30b is rhetorically a decidedly more forceful poem than 30a'.<ref>Roy M. Liuzza, "The Texts of the Old English ''Riddle 30''", ''JEGP: The Journal of English and Germanic Philology'', 87 (1988), 1-15 (p. 10), http://www.jstor.org/stable/27709946</ref> |
The riddle is particularly important because it actually appears twice in the Exeter Book, on folios 108r (numbered 30a in the [[Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records]]) and 122v (numbered 30b). Parts of 30b are missing due to burn damage to the manuscript. This makes it a rare example of an Old English poem surviving in two copies (in this case both by the same scribe). The copies are fairly different, and these differences seem more likely to have arisen from scribal rather than memorial transmission.<ref>Roy M. Liuzza, "The Texts of the Old English ''Riddle 30''", ''JEGP: The Journal of English and Germanic Philology'', 87 (1988), 1-15, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27709946</ref> In the assessment of Roy M. Liuzza, '30b is rhetorically a decidedly more forceful poem than 30a'.<ref>Roy M. Liuzza, "The Texts of the Old English ''Riddle 30''", ''JEGP: The Journal of English and Germanic Philology'', 87 (1988), 1-15 (p. 10), http://www.jstor.org/stable/27709946</ref> |
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== Text == |
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As transcribed by Roy M. Liuzza and translated by Paull Franklin Baum, Riddle 30's text is thus: |
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{| class="wikitable" |
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!30a (f. 108r) |
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!30b (f. 122v) |
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!translation |
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|Ic eom leg bysig lace mid winde |
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bewunden mid wuldre wedre gesomnad |
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fus forð weges fyre gebysgad |
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bearu blowende byrnende gled |
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ful oft mec gesiþas sendað æfter hondum |
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þ''at'' mec weras ⁊ wif wlonce cyssað |
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þoñ ic mec on hæbbe ⁊ hi on hin gað to me |
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monige mid miltse þær ic monnum sceal |
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ycan up cyme eadig nesse :⁊ |
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|Ic eom lig bysig lace mid winde |
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w . . . [r] . . . . . . dre ge somnad |
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fus forð weges fyre gemylted |
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[bear] . blowende byrnende gled |
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ful oft mec gesiþas sendað æfter hondū |
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þær mec weras ⁊ wif wlonce gecyssað |
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þoñ ic mec onhæbbe hi on hnigað to me |
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modge miltsum swa ic mongum sceal |
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ycan up cyme eadignesse :⁊ |
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|I am an active flame; I sport with the wind, |
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enwound with wonder, enwrapped by the storm, |
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eager on my way, troubled by fire, |
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a blooming grove, a burning flame. |
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Friends often pass me from hand to hand |
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so that men and women proudly kiss me. |
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When I rise up they bow down to me, |
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many joyfully, where I shall add |
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to the oncoming of blessedness to men. |
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|} |
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==Editions== |
==Editions== |
Revision as of 17:12, 27 August 2016
Exeter Book Riddle 30 (according to the numbering of the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records) 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 bēam, understood both in its primary sense 'tree' but also in its secondary sense 'cross'.[1]
The riddle is particularly important because it actually appears twice in the Exeter Book, on folios 108r (numbered 30a in the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records) and 122v (numbered 30b). Parts of 30b are missing due to burn damage to the manuscript. This makes it a rare example of an Old English poem surviving in two copies (in this case both by the same scribe). The copies are fairly different, and these differences seem more likely to have arisen from scribal rather than memorial transmission.[2] In the assessment of Roy M. Liuzza, '30b is rhetorically a decidedly more forceful poem than 30a'.[3]
Text
As transcribed by Roy M. Liuzza and translated by Paull Franklin Baum, Riddle 30's text is thus:
30a (f. 108r) | 30b (f. 122v) | translation |
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Ic eom leg bysig lace mid winde
bewunden mid wuldre wedre gesomnad fus forð weges fyre gebysgad bearu blowende byrnende gled ful oft mec gesiþas sendað æfter hondum þat mec weras ⁊ wif wlonce cyssað þoñ ic mec on hæbbe ⁊ hi on hin gað to me monige mid miltse þær ic monnum sceal ycan up cyme eadig nesse :⁊ |
Ic eom lig bysig lace mid winde
w . . . [r] . . . . . . dre ge somnad fus forð weges fyre gemylted [bear] . blowende byrnende gled ful oft mec gesiþas sendað æfter hondū þær mec weras ⁊ wif wlonce gecyssað þoñ ic mec onhæbbe hi on hnigað to me modge miltsum swa ic mongum sceal ycan up cyme eadignesse :⁊ |
I am an active flame; I sport with the wind,
enwound with wonder, enwrapped by the storm, eager on my way, troubled by fire, a blooming grove, a burning flame. Friends often pass me from hand to hand so that men and women proudly kiss me. When I rise up they bow down to me, many joyfully, where I shall add to the oncoming of blessedness to men. |
Editions
- Krapp, George Philip and Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie (eds), The Exeter Book, The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, 3 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1936), pp. 195-96, 224-25, http://ota.ox.ac.uk/text/3009.html.
- Williamson, Craig (ed.), The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1977), no. 28.
- Muir, Bernard J. (ed.), The Exeter Anthology of Old English Poetry: An Edition of Exeter Dean and Chapter MS 3501, 2nd edn, 2 vols (Exeter: Exeter University Press, 2000).
References
- ^ F. A. Blackburn, "The Husband's Message and the Accompanying Riddles of the Exeter Book", JEGP: Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 3 (1901), 1-11.
- ^ Roy M. Liuzza, "The Texts of the Old English Riddle 30", JEGP: The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 87 (1988), 1-15, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27709946
- ^ Roy M. Liuzza, "The Texts of the Old English Riddle 30", JEGP: The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 87 (1988), 1-15 (p. 10), http://www.jstor.org/stable/27709946