A New Solution to the Exeter Book Riddle 41—Barm, a Dough-starter

The New Solution to the Exeter Book Riddle 41 is discussed. Riddle 41 is one of the more challenging riddles found in the Exeter Book, which was donated by bishop Leofric, the first bishop of Exeter, to the Library of Exeter Cathedral in 1072. With the new solution BARM2 (dough-starter), a coherent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Notes and queries 2017-06, Vol.64 (2), p.210-212
Main Author: Moser, Luisa Maria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clergy
Riddles
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The New Solution to the Exeter Book Riddle 41 is discussed. Riddle 41 is one of the more challenging riddles found in the Exeter Book, which was donated by bishop Leofric, the first bishop of Exeter, to the Library of Exeter Cathedral in 1072. With the new solution BARM2 (dough-starter), a coherent thematic structure can be shown, allowing the understanding of these six lines of the manuscript as a complete riddle. The Riddle begins, contrary to most other riddles of the Exeter Book, with a single word which can mean that something new is about to start or that something is being renewed. Except for this unusual beginning, the main corpus of the riddle consists of typical riddle elements. The relevance of BARM in allowing the listeners to move closer to the world of human life is also cited.
ISSN:0029-3970
1471-6941
DOI:10.1093/notesj/gjx024