Riddle Definition Us History. Sometimes used figuratively Stop speaking in riddles. Riddle is a classic example of an English polygenetic surname which is a surname that was developed in a number of different locations and adopted by various families independently.
The word riddle might put you in mind of such brain-teasers as Why did the chicken cross the road but riddles actually have a distinguished history in English literature going back to the 10th century. A difficult question that is asked as a game and that has a surprising or funny answer The first person to solve the riddle wins a candy bar. The most Riddle families were found in the USA in 1880.
Riddling is as old and as ubiquitous as language itself.
Discussion common Germanic Old Frisian riedsal riddle Old Saxon. Firstly Riddle may be of Anglo-Saxon origin and a locational name from any of the various Northern English or Scottish places named with the Olde English pre 7th Century ryge rye and dael valley cognate with the Old Scandinavian dal r valley. It is both an interrogative and an expressive form possibly the earliest form of oral literaturea formulation of thought a mode of association a metaphor. The world is riddled with riddles.