Exeter Book Riddle 25
Exeter Book Riddle 25 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book. Suggested solutions have included Hemp, Leek, Onion, Rosehip, Mustard and Phallus, but the consensus is that the solution is Onion.
Text and translation
As edited by Krapp and Dobbie and translated by Megan Cavell, the riddle reads:Interpretation
The riddle is noted for its double entendre, since to many readers the obvious solution to the riddle is 'penis'. It accordingly provides important evidence for attitudes to gender and sexuality in early medieval England.Editions
- Krapp, George Philip and Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie, The Exeter Book, The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, 3, p. 193, https://web.archive.org/web/20181206091232/http://ota.ox.ac.uk/desc/3009.
- Williamson, Craig, The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book.
- Muir, Bernard J., The Exeter Anthology of Old English Poetry: An Edition of Exeter Dean and Chapter MS 3501, 2nd edn, 2 vols.
- Foys, Martin et al.,. Online edition annotated and linked to digital facsimile, with a modern translation.
Recordings
- Michael D. C. Drout, '', performed from the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records edition.