68-9. 'Though he be a stern lord (lit. a stern man to rule), and armed
with a stave'. The short lines are built more with a view to rime than
to sense.
72-4. 'Marry!' said the other, 'now you say so decidedly that you will
take your own harm upon yourself, and it pleases you to lose your life,
I have no wish to hinder you.'
76. _ryde me_: an instance of the rare ethic dative, which expresses
some interest in the action of the verb on the part of one who is
neither the doer of the action nor its object. Distinguish the uses
referred to in the notes to II 289, XV _g_ 24.
86. _Lepeȝ hym_, 'gallops'. For _hym_, which refers to the rider, not
the horse, cp. note to XV _g_ 24.
92. _Gryngolet_: the name of Gawayn's horse. _gedereȝ þe rake_ seems
to mean 'takes the path'. No similar transitive use of 'gather' is
known.
95. _he wayted hym aboute_, 'he looked around him'. Cp. l. 221
_wayteȝ_, and note to l. 121.
99. 'The clouds seemed to him grazed by the crags'; i.e. the crags were
so high that they seemed to him to scrape the clouds. I owe to Professor
Craigie the suggestion that _skayned_ is ON. _skeina_ 'to graze',
'scratch'.
102-4. 'And soon, a little way off on an open space, a mound (as it
appeared) seemed to him remarkable.'
107. _kacheȝ his caple_, 'takes control of his horse', i.e. takes up
the reins again to start the horse after the halt mentioned at l. 100.
109. _his riche_: possibly 'his good steed'. The substantival use of an
adjective is common in alliterative verse, e.g. l. 188 _þat schyre_
(neck); 200 _þe schene_ (axe); 245 _þe scharp_ (axe); 343 _þat cortays_
(lady). But it has been suggested that _brydel_ has fallen out of the
text after _riche_.