Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
RIDDLE, n., v.1 Also riddell. Sc. usages:
I. n. 1. As in Eng., a coarse-meshed sieve. Phrs. (1) the riddle and the shears, a method of divination (see quots.); (2) to turn the riddle, id. Vbl.n. phr. turning the riddle. Also in n.Eng. dial.(1) Fif., e.Lth. 1825 Jam.:
The riddle is set on its side, the points of a pair of large scissors being so fixed in it, (separate from each other), that the riddle may be suspended by the hold taken of it by the scissors. One handle of the scissors is placed on the finger of one person, and the other on that of another. Some words, to the same purpose with the following are repeated; By St. Paul and St. Peter, did A.B. steal my yarn? or whatever is lost. If the person mentioned be innocent, the riddle remains motionless; if guilty, it immediately turns round. . . . This, among the other superstitious customs common on Halloween, is also used as a mode of divination in regard to marriage.(2) Gall. 1702 Session Bk. Minnigaff (1939) 81–3:
There being a flagrant report of some persons in this parish in and about the Hous of Barcly should have practised that pice of devilrie commonly called turning the riddle . . . Marion Murray depont that she (not having seen any other person do it before her) together with the nurse held the riddle betwixt them, having a pair of little shisers fastned into the rim of the riddle whereof the nurse Mally Redmond had on boule and she the other, and that the nurse mumbled some words mentioning Peter and Paul, and that when the nurse said these words the riddle stirred less or more.Arran 1709 Bk. Arran (MacKenzie 1914) II. 298:
She used a charm for the discovery of theft, by turning the riddle.wm.Sc. 1986 Robert McLellan in Joy Hendry Chapman 43-4 24:
It's deil's wark! Janet Hunter o the Clachan had to staun fornent the Kilmory congregation for three Saubbaths on end for turnin the riddle, ...
2. Deriv. riddler, a maker of riddles (Slg. 1968).Abd. 1930 Millseat Congreg. Church 46:
[He] had a business along with his father as a kind of carpenter, the special feature of which was the making of riddles; so that they were familiarly known as “Riddlers”.
3. A measure of claret, consisting of thirteen bottles, twelve quarts arranged round a Magnum of two quarts, so called from being carried in at ceremonial dinners in a riddle or sieve (Sc. 1959 Scotsman (2 July)).Sc. 1715 D. Forbes in Pitfirrane MSS.:
His wife, my sister, cherishes him by letting him know she had a Riddell for me.Sc. 1787 Lockhart Burns vi.:
The landlord's bill for the “riddle of claret”, which is usually prescribed on such occasions [freedom ceremony] in a Scotch burgh.Slk. 1823 T. Craig-Brown Hist. Slk. (1886) II. 65:
The dinner was pretty good, and the wines very fair, particularly a riddle and a half of claret given by the town [of Selkirk].Sc. 1831 Blackwood's Mag. (Aug.) 413:
I bet you a riddle of claret they are in power again in two months.Sc. 1888 Scottish Leader (4 July) 7:
Mr. Gillies took exception to the first item, Cunningham & Co., for a riddle of claret to the Royal Company of Archers, £5 12. . . . Treasurer Boyd said there could be no question as to the ability of the Archers to pay for their own drink, but the riddle of claret was given to them in accordance with an ancient practice, and it helped to maintain that intercourse between the Town Council and the Royal Company which it was thought desirable should be maintained.Sc. 1951 Daily Mail (28 May):
The prize at one of their [Royal Company of Archers] big shoots has always been a riddle of claret.Sc. 1982 Iain Lawson Drives in the Scottish Borders 21:
The castle no longer exists, but at this spot the Royal Company of Archers shoot periodically for the Selkirk Silver Arrow. Selkirk, like Peebles, struggles to retain the trophy, and each town entertains the Royal Archers to a riddle of claret (12 bottles and a magnum) after the shoot.
II. v. As in Eng. Sc. phr. and comb.: (1) riddling heids, the refuse of corn left after riddling (Cai. 1904 E.D.D.; Cai., sm.Sc. 1968); (2) riddlin' in the reek, a way of ridding oneself of a fairy changeling by holding him over a fire (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.). Cf. Reek, n.1, 1. (3) (iv).
[O.Sc. to turn the riddle, to practice divination, 1589.]
