riddle

The notion of riddle can refer to a fortune telling (predict the future, discover the hidden, guess what a enigma) or yet riddle (an enigma that is proposed as a hobby).

The usual thing is that the riddle, as a riddle, is enunciated in the form of rhyme. For example: "Round, round, bottomless barrel ... what is it?" (a ring), “Always still, always still: by day, asleep; at night, you wake up " (the stars).

Riddles are usually directed at children to deduce the names of animals, fruits, objects, etc. In this sense, riddles have a educational component beyond playful, which seeks the mental development of the little ones. The child, faced with a riddle, must be attentive to the statement, analyze it and reason to find the answer. The rhyming formulation, meanwhile, helps the playful aspect.

Just like sayings, riddles are part of the culture popular in each region. One characteristic of riddles is that they are usually anonymous: they are transmitted from generation to generation, adapting to the idioms and characteristics of each era, but always through oral communication.

When referring to elements of daily use or very present in the lifetime daily (such as utensils, food, parts of the anatomy, pets, or components of nature), riddles help socialization of the child and the transmission of cultural values. There are more complex riddles for adults that may even require various mathematical calculations.

As a poetic form, the riddle has a place of great importance in the literary tradition of different cultures since time immemorial, especially because they give rise to transformations and adaptations, and that they have managed to be part of the estate of popular taste. It is a verbal game that combines lyrical and wit for the enjoyment of people of all ages, drawing on rhetoric and metric resources to build a structure that is simple in appearance, but enigmatic and challenging inside.

The adaptation of the riddle covers the aspects socialhistorical and cultural aspects of each country, each city, to allow it to continue its mission of communicating ancestral knowledge through entertainment. It is worth mentioning that the age of the riddle, although difficult to determine, must be counted in centuries.

The basic structure of a riddle, from a grammatical point of view, usually has resources of traditional popular poetry, such as the assonance or crossed consonant rhyme in octa-syllabic quatrains, the use of simile, allegory, metonymy, metaphor. , the dialogue, the linguistic breakdown, the analogy and the parallel form, and the verses of minor art, among other elements.

Studying the etymology of the word guess, interesting relationships are found with the need that has always characterized our species of unveil the hidden, to transcend our nature to connect with the divine. To this end, humans have explored a large number of techniques, many of which include performing rites with magic, chanting, and the use of substances.

Although riddles have a much more innocent character than the invocation of a deceased being or a god, they are a reflection of the enjoyment that causes us to find that which has been covered by the mystery, to find what others have hidden from our sight, to feel powerful, to savor victory even if it is not by overcoming a small challenge that looks childish.

According to the study of some specialists, the riddle was born in the form of a riddle and, once it made use of the aforementioned poetic devices, it completed its metamorphosis to become the verbal game we know today.