Translation exercise: Sir Gawain rides into North Wales, ll. 691-723.

The text:

Now ridez �is renk �ur3 �e ryalme of Logres,                691
Sir Gauan, on Godez halue, �a3 hym no gomen �o3t--
Oft leudlez alone he lengez on ny3tez
�er he fonde no3t hym byfore �e fare �at he lyked;
Hade he no fere bot his fole bi frythez and dounez,
Ne no gome bot God bi gate wyth to karp--
Til �at he ne3ed ful neghe into �e Nor�e Walez.
Alle �e iles of Anglesay on lyft half he haldez
And farez ouer �e fordez by �e forlondez;
Ouer at �e Holy Hede, til he hade eft bonk                    700
In �e wyldrenesse of Wyrale. Wonde �er bot lyte
�at au�er God o�er gome wyth goud hert louied.
And ay he frayned, as he ferde, at frekez �at he met
If �ay hade herde any karp of a kny3t grene,
In any grounde �eraboute, of �e Grene Chapel.
And al nykked hym wyth 'Nay!'-- �at neuer in her lyue
�ay se3e neuer no segge �at watz of suche hwez
    Of grene.

Mony klyf he ouerclambe in contrayez straunge.
Fer floten fro his frendez fremedly he rydez.
At vche war�e o�er water �er �e wy3e passed
He fonde a foo hym byfore, bot ferly hit were,
And �at so foule and so felle �at fe3t hym byhode.
So mony meruayl bi mount �er �e mon fyndez
Hit were to tore for to telle of �e ten�e dole.
Sumwhyle wyth wormez he werrez, and with wolues als,    720
Sumwhyle wyth wodwos, �at woned in �e knarrez,
Bo�e wyth bullez and berez, and borez o�erquyle,
And etaynez, �at hym anelede of �e he3e felle.

The prompt:

Translation prompt for ll. 691-723 of Gawain Due Thursday April 5th.  
You should gloss each line with a citation for your definition source. It is not necessary to gloss determinants, conjunctions, prepositions, or particles:  a, the, on, with, by, or, yet, so, and. Read the instructions at the Middle English Dictionary carefully when searching for terms, and also use the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) as a resource. It's in our library database under "O." OWL at Purdue will tell you how to cite the glossary in your textbook. A word-for-word translation is not necessary; try to give a sense of poetry and connotation as well as meaning with the choice of definitions and your translation of the lines. There is no need to gloss any word twice.  

Passus I

 SI�EN �e sege and �e assaut watz sesed at Troye,

 After/Since the siege and assault ceased at Troy,  

�Sithen.�  (v. (2)). MED. 2001. Middle English Dictionary. 28 March 20012. On-line.
To go; journey, travel�depart from.

�Sege.� (a). MED. 2001. Middle English Dictionary. 28 March 20012. On-line.
The act or process of besieging a city, caste, etc.

�Assaut.� (a). MED. 2001. Middle English Dictionary. 28 March 20012. On-line.
An armed attack or encounter; a military expedition or raid; also, a siege.

�Was� (n). MED. 2001. Middle English Dictionary. 28 March 20012. On-line.
Something past and gone, or surviving only as a memory or decayed reminder of what it was; also, the state of no longer existing, the condition of nonexistence.

�Cesen.� 1.a (a). MED. 2001. Middle English Dictionary. 28 March 20012. On-line.
(a) To cease or desist (from action, movement, emotion, etc.); make a stop, leave off.

The cribs:

from the University of Southampton:  Notes on translating Middle English

from Cornell University:

Anglesey and North Wales

Gawain�s journey divides into three stages, separated in the text by the word �until� (in bold face below): (1) Leaving Arthur�s kingdom of Logres (691-96), Gawain enters (2) North Wales (697-700), keeping Anglesey on his left. From there he proceeds to �Holy Head� (700), crossing from there by ford into (3) the Wirral, a wilderness in NW England.

Text:
Now ridez �is renk �ur3 �e ryalme of Logres,
Sir Gauan, on Godez halue, �a3 hym no gomen �o3t.
Oft leudlez alone he lengez on ny3tez
�er he fonde no3t hym byfore �e fare �at he lyked.
Hade he no fere bot his fole bi frythez and dounez,
Ne no gome bot God bi gate wyth to karp,
Til �at he ne3ed ful neghe into �e Nor�e Walez.
Alle �e iles of Anglesay on lyft he haldez,
And farez ouer �e fordez by �e forlondez,
Ouer at �e Holy Hede, til he hade eft bonk
In �e wyldrenesse of Wyrale; wonde �er bot lyte
�at au�er God o�er gome wyth goud hert louied. (691-702)

[Now the man rides through the realm of Logres,
Sir Gawain, in the cause of God, though it seemed no game to him.
Often companionless, he is alone at night
In a place where he did not find the food that he liked before him.
He had no companion but his horse in the woods and the hills,
Nor no man but God with whom to speak along the way
Until he approached full near North Wales.
All the isles of Angeley he holds on his left,
And fares over the fords by the forelands
Over at the Holy Head, until he reached shore once again
In the wilderness of the Wirral; few there dwelled
Who either God or man with good heart loved.]

Commentary:
Nor�e Walez (697): The name is well-attested in the medieval period. Note its association with enchantment in Arthurian literature via the Queen of North Wales, one of Morgan le Fay�s companions (see Twomey 2000).

iles of Anglesay (698) [OSR 6: G4-1, K4-1]: The poet says �all the isles of Anglesey,� though there is only one island named Anglesey; Elliott does not comment on the plural of �isles�. Colledge and Marler (p. 422, citing Burrow p. 190) point out that in the Middle Ages the NW point of Anglesey, called Holyhead, was separated from the rest of the island by a strip of water; Eadie (p. 193) notes that there is now a bridge linking Holyhead to the rest of Anglesey. However, offshore from Anglesey are small out-islands (Puffin Island, OSR 6: L-2; West Mouse and the Skerries, OSR 6: H-1 and G-1). If the poet knew of these, then perhaps the plural �isles� refers to them plus the main island.

On the route Gawain would have taken from Anglesey, Eadie cites the Gough Map, ca. 1360, which shows the road from Bangor to Chester. This is the Roman road �roughly along the line of the modern A5 up to about Betws Y Coed [M-5], [after which Gawain] then took a line down the east side of the Conway valley to somewhere in the region on modern Colwyn Bay [A470 north to Colwyn Bay, N-3]. From there it seems to have taken more or less the same line as the modern A55 to Chester. Like the modern A55 the medieval road seems to have been a good few miles inland from the coast, crossing rivers at places where it would have been perfectly possible to bridge them� (p. 192, citing Darby 1936, p. 260 fig. 43, and Darby 1973, p. 175 fig. 39). Elliott says the route probably followed the �Earl�s Way,� which led from Chester eastwards to just north of Sandbach and on to Leek. This would be the modern A51-A54 to Congleton, from which there is a country road direct to Leek. Around Leek is the intersection of Staffordhire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire, where the poet�s dialect has been placed and where topographical terms used in SGGK appear in place-names such as Knar, Knotbury, and Flash. In this area are several caves that might have inspired the Green Chapel (Elliott 1997, p. 116).

713	mony klyf he ouerclambe in contrayez straunge.		713	Many cliffs he climbed over in strange countries.
714	fer floten fro his frendez fremedly, he rydez.		714	Far from the company of his friends, as a stranger he rides.
715	at vche ware oer water er e wye passed		715	At every ford or stream that the knight passed
716	he fonde a foo hym byfore, bot ferly hit were,		716	He found a foe before him, marvelous it was
717	and at so foule and so felle at fet hym byhode.		717	And so completely daring that he was obliged to fight him.
718	so mony meruayl bi mount er e mon fyndez		718	Many marvels among the mountains he found
719	hit were to tore for to telle of e tene dole.		719	That it would be too tedious to tell the tenth part of them.
720	sumwhyle wyth wormez he werrez and with wolues als,		720	Sometimes against dragons and wolves he fought,
721	sumwhyle wyth wodwos at woned in e knarrez,		721	Sometimes with the wild men of the woods that dwelt among the rocks he fought,
722	boe wyth bullez and berez, and borez oerquyle,		722	Also with bulls and bears he fought, and boars at other times,
723	and etaynez at hym anelede of e hee felle.		723	And off the high grounds the giants pursued him.

In line 713, the 'au' in straunge is pronounced as a weak 'ow' because it is a dipthong of a short 'a' and short 'u.' In line 715, vche is pronounced "oocha" because we felt that throughout this piece the 'v' and the shifted 'u' have been interchanged, and in this case, it makes more sense to start with a vowel sound. In line 716, foo is pronounced with a long 'o'. In line 718, meruayl is pronounced "mervile" because the it is the Middle English word for 'marvel,' and so the 'u' has been made a 'v' and the 'ay' is pronounced as a long 'i' has usual. The word tore is line719 has been under discussion for a pronunciation with a long or short 'o' - we have decided on the long 'o' for a smoother poetic flow. In line 732, iisseikkles is pronounced with all short vowels, and therefore a total of four syllables (iis/se/ik/kles). Finally, the wheel begins with a single Alone, which is a very good visual representation of Gawain's condition at that point in time; it should be pronounced with a long 'o' and a break in the word (al/one).