Knar: what would be called in North Lancashire a scree. Carr, flash (e.g. in the Douglas valley), knar, and knot are all common in Lancashire place-names. “Flash” is common in Cheshire also, especially in the Weaver valley. ↩
Rocky spur. ↩
Herd. ↩
Pack. ↩
Tough flesh round shoulder. ↩
Gallops. ↩
Bush. ↩
Attend to. ↩
Favour. ↩
Chivalrous love. ↩
In spite of. ↩
Cut up. ↩
Collops. ↩
Lights and trimmings. ↩
Conduit: any song in honour of the Christmas season such as we now call carol, e.g. the famous Caput apri defero. The “carols” mentioned in the line are, of course, the songs accompanying dance commented on in note 9. ↩
Turn out best. ↩
Small hound. ↩
The gray: i.e. the fox. In hunting books of the period, however, it always seems to mean the badger.
Kennet is the Norman form of the diminutive of chien. The Book of St. Albans says “the kinds of hounds are raches, kenets, and terrours (i.e. terriers)”; the kennet is what we should now call a beagle or harrier. ↩
Failed. ↩
Reaching. ↩
Tressure: properly the wire with which the fret, or jewelled open-work headdress, was built up. The lady was a leader of fashion, for this headdress was not common till the time of Richard II. The old dame, who still wears (see note 94) a “gorget” or wimple, is no doubt meant to appear as still following a fashion which is a generation old. ↩
Fate. ↩
Offered. ↩
Shelter. ↩
Stroking. ↩
Embraces. ↩
Gains. ↩
Sharp. ↩
Pinched. ↩
Body-piece. ↩
Lovelace. ↩
Good condition. ↩
Asked. ↩
Moderation. ↩
Track. ↩
Shore: here means a precipitous bluff. The word is common in Lancashire place-names, and is even used as a common noun. ↩
Steep. ↩
The devil. ↩
Face. ↩
Hurt. ↩
Force. ↩
Made show.
They still say, of a man who makes a great show of doing something, “he ettles better than he does.” ↩
Mad. ↩
Fierce. ↩
Observe how skilfully the Green Knight reveals that he is the same man as Gawain’s host. ↩
Mortification. ↩
True character. ↩
Goddess high: because Merlin has taught her how to use supernatural powers. Morgan is the name of an old Celtic goddess. ↩
Tintagel: the seat of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall. The story of how his duchess, Igerne, was deceived by Merlin’s arts into believing that Uther was Gorlois will be found in Geoffrey’s History, VIII 19, 20. Morgan was presumably her daughter by Gorlois, but I can find no record of the fact. ↩
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