Firstly, it's probably important to say it's hard for me to make a judgment on the thesis of this book since I am, of course, not a historian. The basic premise is that Isidore's Etymologiae had made its way across Europe, all the way to the British Isles, to inform the education and literary culture that can be seen most clearly in the Exeter Book of Riddles. Salvador-Bello suggests that the riddles in this collection were much more than silly games and were a legitimate mode of education in the style of an encyclopedia.

I can say for sure this was a very fun read. Salvador-Bello stars with a general history of literacy and education in Europe and England, and then goes through the Exeter Book riddle by riddle, cross-referencing directly to the Etymologiae and other European engimata, comparing the wording and composition.

Regardless of the actual thesis, I think this book makes a great read for anyone interested in the Exeter Book of Riddles or Anglo-Saxon England. Every single riddle is placed in context and broken down, with all possible solutions posited and explained alongside Salvador-Bello's own theories. There is plenty of space to make your own judgments.

I had no idea about the Etymologiae before I found this book and what a lovely text it is. How fun it is to see the medieval mind try to make sense of the world. Isidore explains that the barnacle goose lays barnacles (which are actually eggs) and effs off and dies; this was their way of explaining migration seasons because they had no clue where these birds went and how they returned.

Also, an amusing quotation debunking interracial adultery (which does not and never did happen!).

Whence also people advise pregnant women not to gaze at repulsive animal faces, such cynocephali or apes, lest they should bear offspring resembling what they have seen. Indeed, the nature of women is such that whatever sort of thing they look at or imagine in the extreme heat of desire, while they are conceiving, is the sort of progeny they will bear. Thus in the act of procreation an animal conveys external forms internally, and since she is filled with the images of these things, she combines their appearance with her own particular quality.

Tell wifey to quit looking at black fellas...

Anyhow, an entertaining look into the medieval world. I would read the Exeter Book of Riddles before picking this one up, though.

And a riddle by yours truly to finish off the review:

I am a yellow vegetable
The soil I grow in is very rich
But I grow without root
Who am I?

Isidorean Perceptions of Order

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