a b Luke Powers, "Tests for True Wit: Jonathan Swift's Pen and Ink Riddles", South Central Review, 7.4 (Winter 1990), 40–52; doi: 10.2307/3189093. JSTOR 3189093. Martin Haug, "Vedische Räthselfragen und Räthselsprüche (Uebersetzung und Erklärung von Rigv. 1, 164)", Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-philologischen und historischen Classe der Köngl. bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München (1875), 457–515. Hart, Donn V. 1964. Riddles in Philippine Folklore: An Anthropological Analysis. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

a b Taylor, Archer, English Riddles from Oral Tradition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1951). Accordingly, during the twentieth century, progressively more substantial collections of Native American riddles were made, including from the Alaskan Athabaskans (Ten'a) people in British Columbia; [112] [113] Amuzgo people in Central America; [114] and Quechua people in South America. [115] Thus, while data remains rather thin, it seems clear that riddling did exist in the Americas independently of European culture. Antti Aarne, Vergleichende Rätselforschungen, 3 vols, Folklore Fellows Communications, 26–28 (Helsinki/Hamina: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1918–20), III 3–48.Umoh, S. J. 2007. "The Ibibio Proverb—Riddles and Language Pedagogy". International Journal of Linguistics and Communication 11(2), 8–13. James Paz, Nonhuman Voices in Anglo-Saxon Literature and Material Culture (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2017). See also J. Huizinga, Homo Ludens: Proeve eener bepaling van het spel-element der cultuur (Haarlem, 1940), pp. 154ff. Lyndon Harries, "The Riddle in Africa", The Journal of American Folklore, 84 (1971), 377–93 (pp. 387–88); doi: 10.2307/539632; JSTOR 539632. Archer Taylor, The Literary Riddle before 1600 (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1948), pp. 13–17.

Jan E. M. Houben, "The Ritual Pragmatics of a Vedic Hymn: The 'Riddle Hymn' and the Pravargya Ritual", Journal of the American Oriental Society, 120 (2000), 499–536 (English translation pp. 533–36), doi: 10.2307/606614. JSTOR 606614. In modern Chinese, the standard word for 'riddle' is mi (謎, literally "to bewilder"). Riddles are spoken of as having a mian (面, "surface", the question component of the riddle), and a di (底, "base", the answer component). Ancient Chinese terms for 'riddle' include yin (讔) and sou (廋), which both mean "hidden". [92] :56,67Richard C. Rudolph, "Notes on the Riddle in China", California Folklore Quarterly, 1.1 (Jan. 1942), pp. 65–82 (pp. 79–81). JSTOR 1495728. It seems that in ancient Greece, riddle-competitions were popular as an intellectual entertainment at symposia. [57] A key source for this culture is Athenaeus. [119] p. 266. Davenport, William. 1952. Fourteen Marshallese Riddles. The Journal of American Folklore Vol. 65, No. 257, pp. 265-266. Numbers in French should be easy, right? After all, they’re written the same: you really just have to memorize 1–19 and then add 1–9 to 20 to make 21, 22, etc. right? Not quite. Antti Aarne, Vergleichende Rätselforschungen, 3 vols, Folklore Fellows Communications, 26–28 (Helsinki/Hamina: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1918–20), I 35–73.

Riddles continued to flourish until recently as an oral form of entertainment, however; the seminal collection of Anglophone riddles from the early modern period through to the twentieth century is Archer Taylor's. [1] Riddles are, for example, prominent in some early-modern ballads collected from oral tradition. Some of those included in the Child Ballads are " Riddles Wisely Expounded" (Child 1), " The Elfin Knight" (Child 2), " King John and the Bishop" (Child 45), " Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (Child 46), and " Proud Lady Margaret" (Child 47). [82] Contemporary English-language riddles typically use puns and double entendres for humorous effect, [ citation needed] rather than to puzzle the butt of the joke, as in "Why is six afraid of seven?" "Because seven eight nine (eight can be replaced with ate)." These riddles are now mostly children's humour and games rather than literary compositions. See further Archer Taylor, The Literary Riddle before 1600 (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1948), pp. 35–37.

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Stokes, Whitley (1904). "Irish Riddles". The Celtic Review. 1 (2): 132–35. doi: 10.2307/30069786. JSTOR 30069786.