Bern Riddles

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, 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, "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: • 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. [de pistillo] (pestle) • 54. [de 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. ==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 [aenigmata "bernensia"]', ed. by Fr. Glorie, trans. by Karl J. Minst, in , Corpus christianorum: series latina, 133-133a, 2 vols (Turnholt: Brepols, 1968), II 541–610. • 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==