Volume 130, Issue 4

This article examines the textual distribution of two sets of Old English verbs, hrepian versus hrīnan (‘to touch’), and frēdan versus fēlan (‘to feel’). In both pairs, their etymologies reveal cognates that are widely distributed in Germanic languages, and their range of meanings in Old English show a close synonymy, suggesting that they fulfilled similar semantic needs within larger semantic fields. However, while their distribution in Late West Saxon texts and elsewhere seem to conform to a Winchester (or Ælfrician) vs. non-Winchester pattern, the presence of frēdan in Early West Saxon is a marked variation from the norm. The article thus suggests that the distribution of these verb pairs reflects genuine dialectal variation (rather than deliberately selected linguistic forms), thereby giving evidence of speech divisions that vary from traditionally recognized dialectal areas. The behavior of these verbs may also illustrate the need for a more nuanced description of the nature of the ‘Winchester vocabulary’.

Literary riddles have enjoyed a reputation as valuable teaching tools of grammar, logic and rhetoric since Classical Antiquity. Alongside the typical ambiguity which a good riddle strives to generate through polysemy and metaphor, medieval riddles create further semantic uncertainty through the peculiarities of their handwritten form, such as the use of rare graphemes and inconsistencies in spelling, punctuation, or word separation. This paper traces logogriphs, iconicity, orthographic and syntactic ambiguities in selected Old English riddles and their relevance for the riddling and reading techniques of their contemporary users. It presents an iconic clue for Exeter Book Riddle 23 and a new spectrum of solutions for Riddle 45, revealed here by means of grammatical, logogriphical, and etymological evidence. The latter is used as a case in point to demonstrate the didactic value of riddles in teaching medieval typology and exegesis. It suggests a palaeographical, etymological and, above all, theological reassessment of the riddles written in Old English.