Stanza 19 (ll. 417-443): Gawain Cuts off the Green Knight's Head Flashcards
“graythly him dresses”
as in
“The grene knight upon grounde graythly him dresses,” (l. 417)
“sets himself in a suitable position [to receive the blow]”
“lut”
as in
“A little lut with the hed, the lyre he discoveres;” (l. 418)
“bow”
“the lyre he discoveres”
as in
“A little lut with the hed, the lyre he discoveres;” (l. 418)
“he uncovers his neck”
“Let the nakede nek to the note schewe.” (l. 420)
“let the naked neck show for the affair”
“gederes”
as in
“Gawan gripped to his axe and gederes hit on hyghte,” (l. 421)
“raises”
“kay”
as in
“The kay fote on the folde he before sette,” (l. 422)
“left”
“Let his doun lyghtly lyght on the naked,” (l. 423)
“[he] let it descend down with ease on the exposed [neck]”
“schalk”
as in
“That the scharp of the schalk schundered the bones” (l. 424)
“man”
(Note the weird word order in this line: “scharp” is adj. for n., and conjugates with 424b. So the full translation would be: So that the sharp [blade] shattered the bones of the man.”)
“schyre gres”
as in
“And schrank thurgh the schyre gres and schede hit in twynne,” (l. 425)
“shining flesh”
(Lit. “shining grease”, but he means flesh.)
“schede”
as in
“And schrank thurgh the schyre gres and schede hit in twynne,” (l. 425)
“severed”
“bitte of the broun stele”
as in
“That the bitte of the broun stele bote on the grounde.” (l. 426)
“edge of the bright steel”
“halse”
as in
“The fayr hed fro the halse hit to the erthe” (l. 427)
“neck”
“That fele hit foyned with her fete there hit forth rolled;”
“[and] rolled forward [such] that many shoved with it their feet”
(Note: “foyned” translates to ‘shoved’.)
“brayd”
as in
“The blod brayd fro the body, that blykked on the grene–” (l. 429)
“sprayed”
(Note: in this line “that” translates to “and”.)
“and nauther faltered ne fel the freke never the helder” (l. 430)
“Yet, the man neither wobbled nor fell any more”
“stythly”
as in
“Bot stythly he start forth upon stif schankes,” (l. 431)
“firmly”
“raght”
as in
“And runischly he raght out, thereas renkes stoden,” (l. 432)
“reached”
(Note: “runischly” tranlates to “sternly”; see note to l. 304)
“thereas renkes stoden”
as in
“And runischly he raght out, thereas renkes stoden,” (l. 432)
“to where men stood”
“laght to”
as in
“Laght to his lovely hed and lyft hit up sone,”
“took hold of”
(Note: different usage than the line before!)
“sone”
as in
“Laght to his lovely hed and lyft hit up sone,”
“promptly”
“bowes”
as in
“And sithen bowes to his blonk, the brydel he caches,” (l. 434)
“turns”
“blonk”
as in
“And sithen bowes to his blonk, the brydel he caches,” (l. 434)
“horse”
“stele-bawe”
as in
“Stepes into stele-bawe and strydes alofte,” (l. 435)
“stirrups”
“And as sadly the segge him in his sadel sette
As non unhap had him ayled, thagh hedles he were
In stedde.” (ll. 437-39)
“and the man sets himself sedately in his saddle as [if] no mischance had bothered him, even though he was headless instead.”
(Note: “sadly” means “sedately”; “unhap” means “mischance”; “ayled” means “bothered”.)
“He brayd his bluk aboute,” (l. 440)
“He turned his trunk around”
“ugly”
as in
“That ugly body that bledde;” (l. 441)
“gruesome”
(Note: “ugly” was a more sinister word than its usage today; make sure you capture that in a translation)
“Mony one of him had doute
By that his resouns were redde.” (ll. 442-43)
“many of [the court] were in fear, by the time that his words were said.”
