The Bern Riddles, also known as ''Aenigmata Bernensia'', ''Aenigmata Hexasticha'' or ''Riddles of Tullius'', are a collection of 64 rhythmic
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
riddles, named after the location of their earliest surviving manuscript, which today is held in
Bern
Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
(though probably produced in
Bourges
Bourges ( ; ; ''Borges'' in Berrichon) is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre (Cher), Yèvre. It is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Cher (department), Cher, and also was the capital city of the former provin ...
): the early eighth-century Codex Bernensis 611.
Origin
Although it has been suggested that they were composed in late antiquity, most scholars consider that the Bern Riddles were inspired by the c. fourth-century collection of riddles attributed to
Symphosius
Symphosius (sometimes, in older scholarship and less properly, Symposius) was the author of the ''Aenigmata'', an influential collection of 100 Latin riddles, probably from the late antique period. They have been transmitted along with their solut ...
, and date to around 700 AD.
The author of the Bern Riddles is not known but the book might have been written by "a Lombard familiar with Mediterranean flora and food". According to
Archer Taylor
Archer Taylor (August 1, 1890September 30, 1973) was one of America's "foremost specialists in American and European folklore","Archer Taylor, UC professor", ''The San Francisco Examiner'', 2 October 1973, p. 49. with a special interest in cultura ...
, "The Berne Riddles are especially interesting for the author's familiarity with the North Italian landscape and its plants. Whoever he was, we may safely call him the first medieval riddle-master in Italy". Some scholars have proposed that the Bern Riddles originated in early England, where several early medieval collections of verse riddles were created, including the Enigmata of Aldhelm. However, it is more probable that the Bern Riddles were written under the influence of Aldhelm's collection and therefore post-date it.
Subjects
The subjects of the Bern Riddles are as follows:
['Aenigmata in Dei nomine Tullii ''seu'' aenigmata quaestionum artis rhetoricae enigmata "bernensia", ed. by Fr. Glorie, trans. by Karl J. Minst, in ''Tatuini omnia opera, Variae collectiones aenigmatum merovingicae aetatis, Anonymus de dubiis nominibus'', Corpus christianorum: series latina, 133-133a, 2 vols (Turnholt: Brepols, 1968)]
II
541-610.
* 1. ' (pot)
* 2. ' (lamp)
* 3. ' (salt)
* 4. ' (stool)
* 5. ' (table)
* 6. ' (glass beaker)
* 7. ' (bladder)
* 8. ' (egg)
* 9. ' (millstone)
* 10. ' (ladder)
* 11. ' (ship)
* 12. ' (grain of corn)
* 13. ' (grapevine)
* 14. ' (olive)
* 15. ' (palm-tree)
* 16. ' (juniper berry)
* 17. ' (sieve)
* 18. ' (broom)
* 19. ' (beeswax)
* 20. ' (honey)
* 21. ' (bee)
* 22. ' (sheep)
* 23. ' (fire)
* 24. ' (parchment)
* 25. ' (letters)
* 26. ' (mustard)
* 27. ' (papyrus)
* 28. ' (silk)
* 29. ' (mirror)
* 30. ' (fish)
* 31. ' (siphon)
* 32. ' (sponge)
* 33. ' (violet)
* 34. ' (rose)
* 35. ' (lily)
* 36. ' (saffron)
* 37. ' (pepper)
* 38. ' (ice)
* 39. ' (ivy)
* 40. ' (mousetrap)
* 41. ' (wind)
* 42. ' (ice)
* 43. (silkworms)
* 44. ' (pearl)
* 45. ' (earth)
* 46. ' (hammer)
* 47. ' (chestnut)
* 48. ' (walnut)
* 49. ' (rain)
* 50. ' (wine)
* 50a. ' (parchment)
* 51. ' (garlic)
* 52. ' (rose)
* 53. ''
e pistillo' (pestle)
* 54. ''
e follibus' (bellows and purse)
* 55. ' (sun)
* 56. ' (word)
* 57. ' (sun)
* 58. ' (moon)
* 59. ' (moon)
* 60. ' (sky)
* 61. ' (shadow)
* 62. ' (stars)
* 63. ' (wine)
Examples
The riddles are written in
Latin rhythmic hexameter
The Latin rhythmic hexameter or accentual hexameter is a kind of Latin dactylic hexameter which arose in the Middle Ages alongside the metrical kind. The rhythmic hexameter did not scan correctly according to the rules of classical prosody; instea ...
.
Manuscripts
The Bern Riddles come down to us in the twelve medieval manuscripts, including:
Editions and translations
Key modern editions of the Bern Riddles include:
* 'Aenigmata in Dei nomine Tullii ''seu'' aenigmata quaestionum artis rhetoricae
enigmata "bernensia", ed. by Fr. Glorie, trans. by Karl J. Minst, in , Corpus christianorum: series latina, 133-133a, 2 vols (Turnholt: Brepols, 1968)
II541–610.
* Strecker, Karl (ed). “Aenigmata Hexasticha.” MGH: ''Poetae Latini aevi Carolingi,'' Vol. 4.2; Berlin, 1914. pp. 732-759.
*
The Bern Riddles', in
The Riddle Ages: Old English Riddles, Translations and Commentaries', ed. by Megan Cavell and Neville Mogford, with Matthias Ammon and Victoria Symons (2013-). An edition and English translation of the Bern Riddles begun in 2020.
* ''Die Berner Rätsel / Aenigmata Bernensia: Lateinisch - deutsch'', ed. and trans. by Dieter Bitterli (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023),
References
Further reading
* Thomas Klein, 'Pater Occultus: The Latin Bern Riddles and Their Place in Early Medieval Riddling', ''Neophilologus'' 103 (2019): 399–417,
* Neville Mogford, 'The Moon and Stars in the Bern and Eusebius Riddles', in ''Riddles at Work in the Early Medieval Tradition: Words, Ideas, Interactions'', ed. by Megan Cavell and Jennifer Neville (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2020), pp. 230–46 , {{doi, 10.7765/9781526133724.00028.
Riddles
Medieval texts in Latin