RIDDLE POSTS BY ARCHIVE DATE: MAR 2022

Aldhelm Riddle 51: Eliotropus

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Sponte mea nascor fecundo cespite vernans;
Fulgida de croceo flavescunt culmina flore.
Occiduo claudor, sic orto sole patesco:
Unde prudentes posuerunt nomina Graeci.

Translation:

I am born in a fertile field, flourishing of my own accord;
The shining peaks grow yellow with golden blossom.
When the sun is in the west I am closed, and by the same token I open at sunrise:
Whence the wise Greeks set my name. 

Click to show riddle solution?
Heliotrope


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm 

Aldhelm Riddle 52: Candela

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Materia duplici palmis plasmabar apertis.
Interiora mihi candescunt: viscera lino
Seu certe gracili iunco spoliata nitescunt;
Sed nunc exterius flavescunt corpora flore,
Quae flammasque focosque laremque vomentia fundunt,
Et crebro lacrimae stillant de frontibus udae.
Sic tamen horrendas noctis repello latebras;
Reliquias cinerum mox viscera tosta relinquunt.

Translation:

I was molded from two-fold material by open hands.
My interior gleams: my innards, stripped
From flax or indeed the slender rush, shine;
But now my body shines golden, like a flower, on the outside,
Which—giving off fire and flames and light—melts down,
And wet teardrops drip frequently from my brow.
Nevertheless, thus do I repel night’s horrible refuges;
My toasted innards soon leave the remains of ash. 

Click to show riddle solution?
Candle


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm 

Aldhelm Riddle 53: Arcturus

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Sidereis stipor turmis in vertice mundi:
Esseda famoso gesto cognomina vulgo;
In giro volvens iugiter non vergo deorsum,
Cetera ceu properant caelorum lumina ponto.
Hac gaza ditor, quoniam sum proximus axi,
Qui Ripheis Scithiae praelatus montibus errat,
Vergilias numeris aequans in arce polorum;
Pars cuius inferior Stigia Letheaque palude
Fertur et inferni manibus succumbere nigris.

Translation:

At the top of the world I am surrounded by starry crowds;
I have the name “esseda” (chariot) in common speech; 
Turning perpetually in my orbit, I do not incline downwards 
Like the others stars of the heavens do when they rush to the sea. 
I am enriched by this wealth for I am near the pole,
Which wanders, visible, around the Riphaean mountains of Scythia. 
I equal in number the Pleiades at the crown of the sky,
The lower part of which is reported to sink down into the Stygian or Lethean 
Swamp and among the black spirits of hell. 

Click to show riddle solution?
Arcturus, the star


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm 

Aldhelm Riddle 54: Cocuma duplex

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Credere quis poterit tantis spectaeula causis
Temperet et fatis rerum contraria fata?
Ecce larem, laticem quoque gesto in viscere ventris,
Nec tamen undantes vincunt incendia limphae
Ignibus aut atris siccantur flumina fontis,
Foedera sed pacis sunt flammas inter et undas;
Malleus in primo memet formabat et incus.

Translation:

Who could believe the spectacle of such affairs
And who could govern fates that are contrary to things’ fates? 
Behold: I carry fire and also water inside my belly,
And yet the surging waters do not conquer the fires
Nor are the water’s streams dried out by the dark flames.
Instead there are peace pacts between the flames and waves;
A hammer and anvil formed me to begin with.

Click to show riddle solution?
Double pot


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm 

Aldhelm Riddle 55: Crismal

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Alma domus veneror divino munere plena,
Valvas sed nullus reserat nec limina pandit,
Culmina ni fuerint aulis sublata quaternis,
Et licet exterius rutilent de corpore gemmae,
Aurea dum fulvis flavescit bulla metallis,
Sed tamen uberius ditantur viscera crassa
Intus, qua species flagrat pulcherrima Christi:
Candida sanctarum sic floret gloria rerum,
Nec trabis in templo, surgunt nec tecta columnis.

Translation:

I am honoured as a holy house, filled with a divine gift,
But none unlock my doors or cross my doorway   
If the roofs are not removed from my four rooms,
And although jewels shine on the outside of my body,
While a golden boss shines with its yellow metal, 
My substantial innards are even more abundantly enriched
Within, where the most beautiful vision of Christ blazes:
Thus blooms the shining glory of holy things:
In the church, the roofs do not rise from rafters or columns.

Click to show riddle solution?
Chrismal


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm