{"id":5699,"date":"2020-01-17T12:12:47","date_gmt":"2020-01-17T17:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/?page_id=5699"},"modified":"2020-01-17T12:12:47","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T17:12:47","slug":"exeter-riddle-10","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/translations\/exeter-riddle-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Exeter Riddle 10"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having recently translated\u00a0Riddle<\/em> 10 from the Exeter Book (Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501) in my recent blog on esotericism in a sequence of Old English riddles (\u201cEncoded References in Exeter Book Bird-Riddles<\/a>\u201c), I have decided to add my translation and recitation of this poetic enigma for our ongoing\u00a0medieval poetry translation and recitation project.<\/a> I accept the Latin solution bernaca<\/em>, (a term for \u201cbarnacle goose\u201d) as the poem\u2019s solution based on parallel descriptions of a legend regarding the bird\u2019s marvelous generation on drift wood (where water and wood meet) found in Gerald of Wales’ Topographia Hiberniae<\/em>, which describes the “marvelous” bird in similar terms.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Exeter Book Riddle 10, Exeter Cathedral Library MS3051, f.103v. Image reproduced with permission of the University of Exeter Digital Humanities and the Dean & Chapter, Exeter Cathedral.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n


\nOld English\u00a0Riddle<\/em> 10<\/strong>\u00a0(solution:\u00a0bernaca<\/em>):<\/p>\n

Neb w\u00e6s min on nearwe , ond ic neo\u00fean w\u00e6tre,
\nflode underflowen,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 firgenstreamum
\nswi\u00fee besuncen, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0ond on sunde awox
\nufan y\u00feum \u00feeaht,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 anum getenge
\nli\u00feendum wuda\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 lice mine .
\nH\u00e6fde feorh cwico,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00fea ic of f\u00e6\u00f0mum cwom
\nbrimes ond beames\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 on blacum hr\u00e6gle.
\nSume w\u00e6ron hwite\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 hyrste mine,
\n\u00fea mec lifgende\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 lyft upp ahof,
\nwind of w\u00e6ge,\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0si\u00fe\u00fean wide b\u00e6r
\nofer seolhba\u00feo.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Saga hw\u00e6t ic hatte.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cExeter Book Barnacle Goose-Riddle:\u201d A Modern English Translation by Richard Fahey:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMy beak was in narrowness, and I was beneath the water, I was subsumed by the ocean, I was sunk deep in the briny current. I awoke in my swimming, covered over by waves, near those travelers of wood, with my body. I had a living spirit, when I came from the bosom of sea and tree in black garments. Some of my decorations were white, when the breeze heaved me up, living, the wind from the wave, after that it bore me widely across the seal-bath. Say what I am called.\u201d<\/p>\n