Stanzas 10-11 (ll. 203-249): The Green Knight Begins to Speak Flashcards
“Whether”
as in
“Whether had he no helme ne hauberghe nauther” (l. 203)
“However”
“Pysan”
as in
“Ne no pysan ne no plate that pented to armes” (l. 204)
“Metal collar”
“plate that pented to armes”
as in
“Ne no pysan ne no plate that pented to armes” (l. 204)
“plates that belonged to armour”
“Ne no schaft ne no schelde to schowve ne to smyte.” (l. 205)
“No spear nor a shield to thrust or pierce.”
“holyn bobbe”
as in
“Bot in his on hand he had a holyn bobbe” (l. 206)
“sprig of holly”
“That is grettest in grene when greves are bare,” (l. 207)
“Which is [one of] the greenest things [to be seen] when groves are bare”
“unmete”
as in
“And an axe in his other, a huge and unmete” (l. 208)
“extraordinary”
(Note that the second half of this line needs to precede the first in a prose translation, i.e. “And in his other, a huge and extraordinary axe”)
“A spitous sparthe to expoun in spelle, whoso myghte:” (l. 209)
“A grim battleaxe to describe with words, whosoever might try!”
“The hed of an elnyerde the large lanthe hade,” (l. 210)
“The head [of the axe] was the full length of an ell-rod”
“grayn”
as in
“The grayn all of grene stele and of gold hewen” (l. 211)
“spike [atop the axe]”
(Lit. “projection”– one can imagine that there is a spike that juts out the top of the axe as a result. I have rendered it this way, although other translators take it to mean the socket or casing that holds the blade in place.)
“The bitte burnist bryght, with a brod egge” (l. 212)
“The blade, with a long cutting edge, [was] brightly polished”
“wel schapen to schere”
as in
“As wel scahpen to schere as scharpe rasores;” (l. 213)
“well adapted to cut”
“stele”
as in
“The stele of a stif staf the sturne hit by gripped” (l. 214)
“shaft”
“sturne”
as in
“The stele of a stif staf the sturne hit by gripped” (l. 214)
“strong man”
(Note: adj. for n. again)
“yrn”
as in
“That was wounden with yrn to the wandes ende” (l. 215)
“iron”
“to the wandes ende”
as in
“That was wounden with yrn to the wandes ende” (l. 215)
“for the full length of the staff”
“in gracious werkes”
as in
“And all bigraven with grene in gracious werkes,” (l. 216)
“with elegant designs”
“A lace lapped aboute, that louked at the hede
And so after the halme halched ful ofte,
With tried tasseles thereto tached inoghe
On botouns of the bryght grene brayden ful riche.” (ll. 217-220)
“A lace cord wound about, and was fastened at the head [of the axe]; also, entwined very often along the handle were fine tassels, plentifully attached on buttons of the [same] bright green [that were] fashioned very splendidly.”
(Conjugation is the challenge here; word translation is doable)
“heldes him in”
as in
“This hathel heldes him in and the halle entres,” (l. 221)
“makes his way in”
(Note: verbs of motion are often reflexive in middle English; that is, they are often directed at the subject: “I make my way”, as opposed to “I go”.)
“Drivande”
as in
“Drivande to the high dese, dut he no wothe.” (l. 222)
“heading straight”
(Lit. “driving”; try to convey that same force of motion in his movement)
“dut he no wothe.”
as in
“Drivande to the high dese, dut he no wothe.” (l. 222)
“he feared no danger.”
“Haylsed”
as in
“Haylsed he never one, bot high he overloked.” (l. 223)
“Greeted”
“warp”
as in
“The first word that he warp, ‘Where is,’ he sayde,” (l. 224)
“uttered”
“gyng”
as in
“The governour of this gyng? Gladly I wolde” (l. 225)
“household”
“And reled hem up and doun” (l. 229)
“And swept them up and down [the rows of diners]”
“He stemmed and con studie” (l. 230)
“He pondered and did try to work out”
(Note: You must retain the periphrastic past tense of “con studie”. Periphrastic literally means ‘indirect’; here, then, it means you form the past tense by adapting the present tense with a preceding word.)
“walt”
as in
“Who walt there most renoun.” (l. 231)
“Possessed”
“For uch man had mervayl what hit mene myghte
That a hathel and a horse myght such a hue lache”
(ll. 233-234)
“For each man marvelled [at] what it might mean that a man and his horse might take such a colour”
“As grow”
as in
“As grow grene as the gresse and grener hit semed,” (l. 235)
“As to be”
“aumayl”
as in
“Then grene aumayl on gold glowande bryghter” (l. 236)
“enamel”
(Note: Remember in this line that the second half of the line should precede the first in a prose rendering.)
“All studied that there stod and stalked him nerre
With all the wonder of the world what he work schulde.” (ll. 237-238)
“All that stood there crept closer to him, and pondered with all the wonder of the world [as to] what he should do.”
(Note: word order can be a bit strange here; note in a response that it is difficult to render it in prose whilst maintaining line continuity.)
“fele sellyes”
as in
“For fele sellyes had thay sene, bot such never ere”
“many marvels”
“arwe”
as in
“Therefore to answare was arwe mony athel freke” (l. 241)
“afraid”
“steven”
as in
“And all stouned at his steven and stone-stille seten” (l. 242)
“voice”
“swoghe sylence”
as in
“In a swoghe sylence thurgh the sale riche” (l. 243)
“trance-like silence”
“sale riche”
as in
“In a swoghe sylence thurgh the sale riche” (l. 243)
“splendid hall”
“As all were slypped on slepe so slaked her lotes
In hye.” (ll. 244-45)
“Their words had died away as if they had all slipped into sleep at once.”
“doute”
as in
“I deme hit not all for doute” (l. 246)
“fear”
“Bot let him that all schuld loute
Cast unto that wye.” (ll. 248-49)
“But [they] let he that all should bow to speak to that man.”
(Note: tricky word here is “loute”, meaning “bow to”.)
