Nueve adivinanzas de Estambul (Colección Milwitzky)

Abstract

From the extensive collection of Eastern Judeo-Spanish oral literature, brought together by William Milwitzky, in Yugoslavia, Rumania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, in 1898-1899, nine previously unedited riddles from Istanbul are edited and studied in detail. Their solutions refer to the bolt (of a door) (1); the burro (2); the horse (and its harness) (3-4); the bucket (of a well) (5); the ear (6a-6b); the writing pen (7); the radish (8); the sun (9). In regard to their possible origins, four of these riddles have close peninsular analogues (1, 5, 9; possibly also 3); two others obviously originated in the Balkans (6, 8); while the origin of the other three cannot be determined (2, 4, 7). Despite the limited number of riddles collected by Milwitzky, they would seem to confirm the tradition's culturally eclectic character, already noted in Rabbi Menahem Azuz's small collection (see note 6).