Exeter Book Riddle 47

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'.

Text
Original Formal equivalence Translation
Moððe word fræt.       Mē þæt þuhte
wrǣtlicu wyrd,       þā ic þæt wundor gefrægn,
þæt se wyrm forswealg       wera gied sumes,
þēof in þȳstro,       þrymfæstne cwide
ond þæs strangan staþol.       Stælgiest ne wæs
wihte þȳ glēawra,       þe hē þām wordum swealg.[1]
A moth ate words.       To me that seemed
a fantastical event,       when I found that wonder out,
that a worm swallowed       the poem of a some person,
a thief in darkness,       a glorious statement
and its strong foundation.       The thieving stranger was not
a whit more wise       that he swallowed those words.
A moth ate words. I thought that was a marvelous fate,
that the worm, a thief in the dark, should eat
a man's words — a brilliant statement,
its foundation strong. Not a whit the wiser
was he for having fattened himself on those words.

Glossary
form in text headword form grammatical information key meanings
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

Interpretation

The extensive commentary on this riddle is concisely summarised by Cavell,[2] and more fully by Foys.[3]

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), p. 236.
  • Williamson, Craig (ed.), The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1977).
  • 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).

Recordings
  • Michael D. C. Drout, 'Riddle 47', performed from the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records edition (29 October 2007).

References
  1. George Philip Krapp and Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie (eds), The Exeter Book, The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, 3 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1936), p. 205, with vowel-length marks added.
  2. M. C. Cavell, 'Commentary for Riddle 47', https://theriddleages.bham.ac.uk/riddles/post/commentary-for-exeter-riddle-47/ (23 November 2015).
  3. Martin Foys, 'The Undoing of Exeter Book Riddle 47: "Bookmoth" ', in Transitional States: Cultural Change, Tradition and Memory in Medieval England (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2017), working paper at https://www.academia.edu/15399839.


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