Exeter Riddle 85
MEGANCAVELL
Date: Thu 20 Jun 2019Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Exeter Riddle 85
Nis min sele swige, ne ic sylfa hlud
ymb * * *(1) unc dryhten scop
siþ ætsomne. Ic eom swiftre þonne he,
þragum strengra, he þreohtigra.
Hwilum ic me reste; he sceal yrnan forð.
Ic him in wunige a þenden ic lifge;
gif wit unc gedælað, me bið deað witod.
My house is not silent, nor am I loud myself
about … the lord created for us two
a journey together. I am swifter than he,
stronger at times, he the more enduring.
Sometimes I rest myself; he must run forth.
I always dwell within him for as long as I live;
if we two are divided, death is certain for me.
Notes:
This riddle appears on folio 128v of The Exeter Book.
The above Old English text is based on this edition: Elliott van Kirk Dobbie and George Philip Krapp, eds, The Exeter Book, Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records 3 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1936), page 238.
Note that this edition numbers the text Riddle 81: Craig Williamson, ed., The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1977), page 115.
Textual Note:
(1) There’s a blank space in the manuscript here with room for about seven letters
Tags: anglo saxon exeter book riddles old english solutions riddle 85
Related Posts:
Commentary for Exeter Riddle 85
Exeter Riddle 23
Exeter Riddle 63