Stanzas 12-13 (ll. 250-300): The Green Knight Requests his Game Flashcards
“rekenly him reverenced”
as in
“And rekenly him reverenced, for rad was he never,” (l. 251)
“greeted him respectfully”
“rad”
as in
“And rekenly him reverenced, for rad was he never,” (l. 251)
“fearful”
“Wye”
as in
“And sayd, ‘Wye, welcom iwysse to this place.” (l. 252)
“man”
(Note: If this section comes up, you MUST write about the connotations of this word. It is a cautious form of address: since the stranger is not wearing any armour, it is not clear whether or not he is a knight. Thus, ‘sir’, or ‘lord’, or any such address is not appropriate. Moreover, it is slightly sarcastic, perhaps? That he refuses to acknowledge the Green Knight’s status in his address shows his confidence?)
“iwysse”
as in
“And sayd, ‘Wye, welcom iwysse to this place.” (l. 252)
“indeed”
(Also spelled: ‘iwis’, ‘iwys’, or other. Can also mean ‘certainly’, ‘surely’, ‘in fact’.)
“Light lovely adoun and leng, I thee praye,” (l. 254)
“Kindly dismount [your horse] and stay, I implore you,”
“wit”
as in
“And whatso thy wille is we schal wit after.” (l. 255)
“find out”
“To wone any while in this won hit was not myn ernde,–” (l. 257)
“It was not my purpose to stay a while in this place”
(Note the play on words between “wone” [lit. dwell, remain] and “won” [lit. dwelling, residence]. Note that you changed it for clarity’s sake.)
“Bot for”
as in
“Bot for the los of thee, lede, is lyft up so highe,” (l. 258)
“But because”
(Because is often written as ‘for’ by the Gawain-poet)
“los”
as in
“Bot for the los of thee, lede, is lyft up so highe,” (l. 258)
“fame”
“Stifest under stele-gere”
as in
“Stifest under stele-gere on stedes to ride,” (l. 260)
“Strongest under armour”
(Note: ‘stele-gere’ lit. translates to ‘steel gear’. You can logically see how that transmutes to armour.)
“wyghtest”
as in
“The wyghtest and the worthyest of the worldes kynde,” (l. 261)
“bravest”
“Preue for to play with in other pure laykes,” (l. 262)
“[well] proven in other courtly sports”
(Note the difficulty of this line: it doesn’t make syntactical sense if translated literally)
“kyd”
as in
“And here is kyd courtaysye, as I have herde carpe;” (l. 263)
“shown”
“herde carpe”
as in
“And here is kyd courtaysye, as I have herde carpe;” (l. 263)
“heard tell”
“wayned”
as in
“And that has wayned me hider, iwysse, at this tyme.” (l. 264)
“brought”
“siker”
as in
“Ye may be siker by this braunch that I bere here” (l. 265)
“sure”
(When an adjective, it means “trusty”; in verb form, it translates similarly to “you may trust me” or “you may be sure”.)
