Aldhelm'sEnigmataand Isidorian etymology

In failing to abide by the chief rule of their genre, the Enigmata of Aldhelm have themselves become something of a riddle: for why should their author give, in the form of a title word or phrase, the solution to each of the one hundred riddles? By violating from the start the essential quality of any riddle – a seeming impossibility of solution – Aldhelm would seem to neglect the point made in this Swedish riddle about riddles: ‘When one does not know what it is, then it is something; but when one does know what it is, then it is nothing.’ Certainly the work of Symphosius provided Aldhelm with a precedent for including solutions to his riddles; but this fact in itself does not explain very much about Aldhelm's practice, for it ignores the pleasure he took in exploring the possibilities of the riddle as a genre. Since his work as a whole demonstrates a taste for the difficult and esoteric, it is not surprising that his Enigmata should pose this riddle of their own. His practice in this regard is all the more intriguing because very few of the enigmata are difficult to solve, even without their titles. They differ quite markedly from the riddles of the Exeter Book, many of which are insoluble. In the paradoxical fashion so beloved of riddlers, the mystery of the enigma is also the important clue. That is, the title word or phrase offers in the obvious sense a solution; but in a more esoteric, linguistic sense it may also present a riddle of its own.