Veronese Riddle

Veronese Riddle
Original text
Full title	Indovinello Veronese (Italian)
Language	Late Vulgar Latin / Early Romance
Date	8th or early 9th century
Provenance	Verona, Italy
Genre	Riddle

The Veronese Riddle (Italian: Indovinello veronese) is a riddle written in late Vulgar Latin, or early Romance, on the Verona Orational, probably in the 8th or early 9th century, by a Christian monk from Verona, in northern Italy. It is an example of a writing-riddle, a popular genre in the Middle Ages and still in circulation in recent times. Discovered by Luigi Schiaparelli in 1924, it may be the earliest extant example of Romance writing in Italy.^[1]

The text, with a literal translation, runs:

The subject of the riddle is the writer himself: the oxen are his fingers which draw a feather (the white plow) across the page (the white field), leaving a trail of ink (the black seed).

The Riddle was written on codex LXXXIX (89) of the Biblioteca Capitolare di Verona. The parchment, discovered by Schiapparelli in 1924, is a Mozarabic oration by the Spanish Christian Church, probably written in Toledo. From there it was brought to Cagliari and then to Pisa before reaching the Chapter of Verona.

Though initially hailed as the earliest document in a vernacular of Italy in the first years following Schiapparelli's discovery, today the record has been disputed by many scholars from Bruno Migliorini to Cesare Segre and Francesco Bruni, who have placed it at the latest stage of Vulgar Latin, though this very term is far from being clear-cut, and Migliorini himself considers it dilapidated. At present, the Placito Capuano (960 AD; the first in a series of four documents dated 960-963 AD issued by a Capuan court) is considered to be the oldest undisputed example of Romance writing in Italy.

The text diverges from Classical Latin in the following traits, which can be considered vernacular features.

• Phonetic differences:
  • Omission of final -t in the verbs pareba, araba, teneba, seminaba^[2][3] (from the Latin imperfect forms parebat, arabat, tenebat, seminabat)
  • Use of -e- in place of Classical Latin short -i- in the first syllable of negro^[2][3]
  • Use of -o in place of Classical Latin -um at the end of the words albo, versorio and negro^[2]
• Differences in vocabulary:
  • Use of the term versorio for "plough" (vs. Classical Latin aratrum); this can be found in today's Veronese dialect^[2] (and other varieties of the Venetian language)
  • Use of the term pratalia for "fields" (vs. Classical Latin agros), also a Veronese lexeme^[2]
  • Use of the verb parar(e) for 'push on', 'drive', 'lead'^[2] (Standard Italian, by contrast, has spingere, guidare).

On the other other hand, in a few aspects the text appears to share features with Classical Latin as opposed to vernacular speech:

• Use of -b- in the imperfect verbs^[3]
• Use of final -n in semen^[3]

Some features of the text are shared with Classical Latin, but can also be found in some vernacular languages of Italy:

• As in Latin, the neuter plural ending -a is found on both the noun and adjective in alba pratalia. In Standard Italian, this plural ending is used only for a relatively small number of nouns, which now trigger feminine plural agreement in -e on associated adjectives. However, that innovation is not found in all vernacular Romance languages of Italy: some have retained -a as a neuter plural ending used in both nouns and adjectives.
• The form boves is identical to the Latin accusative masculine plural form, rather than displaying the vocalic plural ending seen in modern Standard Italian buoi. Michele A. Cortelazzo and Ivano Paccagnella say that the plural -es of boves may well be considered Ladin and therefore a genuine Romance plural rather than a Latinism.
• The adjective albo 'white' corresponds to the Classical Latin lexeme albus, but is also attested in Old Italian^{[citation needed]}, in competition with the Germanic bianco which eventually ousted it from its place in everyday speech in most of Italy.

• Placiti Cassinesi
• Commodilla catacomb inscription
• Saint Clement and Sisinnius Inscription

Notes

• (in Italian) Indovinello Veronese