historyanalysisThe Conversation: Arts + Culture (US)c. 1000 · Exeter, England
What do medieval puzzles and the New York Times Connections have in common?
Riddles were a popular medieval entertainment, and the Exeter Book, compiled around the year 1000, holds about 95 Old English riddles. Each one describes an object through misleading clues, and the reader must work out the answer. The shortest riddle describes water turning to bone, most likely meaning ice, because bone and ice are both hard and long like an icicle. Another riddle, which hints at a rising, touched and covered object, is most often solved as dough, though its innuendo was probably part of the joke. Many riddles also rely on knowledge of medieval life, such as how animal hides became books or how runes were used.
Old English riddles describe an object through metaphor and ambiguity. Each clue points to several possible answers, so the reader must weigh them, which is the same mechanism behind modern puzzles such as the New York Times Connections game.
The riddles show that wordplay and teasing puzzles are very old, and that puzzles depend on the culture that makes them, which is why modern word games can seem impenetrable in a thousand years.
Puzzles and riddles have been a steady feature of human culture, from Greek riddles like the Sphinx's to modern crosswords, and each one reflects the knowledge of its time.
The Exeter Book is kept in Exeter Cathedral Library, where it has been since 1072.
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