Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Part IV

by J.R.R. Tolkien
In this medieval poem, originally composed in Middle English in the 14th century, a mysterious green knight issues a challenge to the knights of King Arthur's court. Learn these words from the translation by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Here are links to our lists for the poem: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. buxom
    healthily plump and vigorous
    ...when he had belted his brand upon his buxom haunches,
    he twined the love-token twice then about him,
    and swiftly he swathed it sweetly about his waist,
    that girdle of green silk, and gallant it looked
    upon the royal red cloth that was rich to behold.
  2. swathe
    wrap in or as if in strips of cloth
    ...when he had belted his brand upon his buxom haunches,
    he twined the love-token twice then about him,
    and swiftly he swathed it sweetly about his waist,
    that girdle of green silk, and gallant it looked
    upon the royal red cloth that was rich to behold.
  3. churl
    a crude or uncouth person lacking culture or refinement
    For he is a man monstrous, and mercy he knows not;
    for be it a churl or a chaplain that by the Chapel rideth,
    a monk or a mass-priest or any man besides,
    he would as soon have him slain as himself go alive.
  4. baleful
    deadly or sinister
    Have here thy helm on thy head, thy spear in thy hand,
    and ride down by yon rock-side where runs this same track,
    till thou art brought to the bottom of the baleful valley.
  5. mischance
    an unpredictable outcome that is unfortunate
    This is a chapel of mischance, the church most accursed
    that ever I entered. Evil betide it!
  6. gullet
    the passage between the pharynx and the stomach
    ‘So, now thou hast thy heart whole, a hit I must make.
    May the high order now keep thee that Arthur gave thee,
    and guard thy gullet at this go, if it can gain thee that.’
  7. covenant
    a signed written agreement between two or more parties
    But one stroke here’s my due,
    as the covenant clear did say
    that in Arthur’s halls we drew.
    And so, good sir, now stay!
  8. artful
    marked by skill or cunning in achieving a desired end
    But in this you lacked, sir, a little, and of loyalty came short.
    But that was for no artful wickedness, not for wooing either,
    but because you loved your own life: the less do I blame
    you.
  9. penance
    voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for something
    Thou hast confessed thee so clean and acknowledged thine errors,
    and hast the penance plain to see from the point of my blade,
    that I hold thee purged of that debt, made as pure and as
    clean as hadst thou done no ill deed since the day thou wert born.
  10. consort
    the spouse or companion of a reigning monarch
    And give my regards to her grace, your goodly consort,
    both to her and to the other, to mine honoured ladies,
    who thus their servant with their designs have subtly
    beguiled.
  11. beguile
    influence by slyness
    And give my regards to her grace, your goodly consort,
    both to her and to the other, to mine honoured ladies,
    who thus their servant with their designs have subtly
    beguiled.
  12. ruefully
    in a manner expressing pain or sorrow
    ...but as a token of my trespass I shall turn to it often
    when I ride in renown, ruefully recalling
    the failure and the frailty of the flesh so perverse,
    so tender, so ready to take taints of defilement.
  13. perverse
    resistant to guidance or discipline
    ...but as a token of my trespass I shall turn to it often
    when I ride in renown, ruefully recalling
    the failure and the frailty of the flesh so perverse,
    so tender, so ready to take taints of defilement.
  14. prowess
    a superior skill learned by study and practice
    And thus, when pride my heart pricks for prowess in arms,
    one look at this love-lace shall lowlier make it.
  15. obliquely
    at a slanting angle
    The hurt was healed that he had in his neck,
    and the bright-hued belt he bore now about it
    obliquely like a baldric bound at his side,
    under his left arm with a knot that lace was fastened
    to betoken he had been detected in the taint of a fault;
    and so at last he came to the Court again safely.
Created on Wed Sep 04 09:18:41 EDT 2019 (updated Mon Aug 11 12:55:19 EDT 2025)

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