Forms: 6–9 ænigma, 7 æ-, enigm(e, (anigma, inigma), 6– enigma. Pl. enigmas; also 6–7 æ-, eni(y)gmata. [a. L. ænigma, Gr. αἴνιγμα (pl. αἰνίγματα), f. αἰνίσσεσθαι to speak allusively or obscurely, f. αἶνος apologue, fable. The adapted forms æ-, enigm(e in 17th c. may be due to the Fr. énigme.]
1. a. A short composition in prose or verse, in which something is described by intentionally obscure metaphors, in order to afford an exercise for the ingenuity of the reader or hearer in guessing what is meant; a riddle. † b. In wider sense: An obscure or allusive speech; a parable (obs. exc. as transf. from 1 a.)
1539. Taverner, Erasm. Prov., 53 b. He pronounced also many Enygmata or Symboles.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., III. i. 128. Some enigma, some riddle, come, thy Lenuoy begin.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 1354. Divine matters belonging to the gods, are couched & hidden under darke ænigmes and covert speeches.
1644–52. J. Smith, Sel. Disc., VI. iii. (1821), 201. Those ænigmata of Joseph’s sun, moon, stars, and sheaves.
1681. H. More, Expos. Daniel, vi. 159. Delivering the matter without any Prophetick Ænigm or Parable. Ibid. (1684), An Answer, 249. Symbols, Parables, or Enigmes.
1715. Pope, Let. Sir W. Trumbull, 16 Dec. It was one of the Enigma’s of Pythagoras, ‘When the winds rise, worship the Eccho’ … when popular tumults begin, retire to solitudes.
1781. J. Harris, Philol. Enq., I. Nor ought a Metaphor to be far-fetched, for then it becomes an Enigma.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, III. iii. 101. You speak in enigmas, father.
1809–10. Coleridge, Friend (1865), 158. In a complex enigma the greatest ingenuity is not always shown by him who first gives the complete solution.
1849. W. Fitzgerald, trans. Whitaker’s Disput., 186. Ænigmas which Œdipus himself could never solve.
2. fig. Something as puzzling as an enigma; an unsolved problem.
c. 1605. Rowley, Birth Merl., V. i. 349. I will erect a monument … A dark enigma to the memory.
1609. Ev. Woman in Hum., I. i. in Bullen, O. Pl., IV. All which to me are problematique mines, Obsurde inigmaes.
a. 1667. Jer. Taylor, Serm. (1678), 340. A person both God and Man, an ænigma to all Nations, and to all Sciences.
1795. Burke, Lef. Dr. Hussey (1844), IV. 325. As to Spain, it certainly has been, and long will be, an enigma.
1836. Thirlwall, Greece, II. xiv. 200. If the fleet … could be supposed to solve this enigma.
1875. Farrar, Silence & Voices, ii. 33. Separated from the thought of God, the conscience becomes an idle enigma.
