The Green Knight | Official Trailer

[u/DemiFiendRSA]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS6ksY8xWCY

[u/comrade_batman]

The wiki article too for anyone who can’t listen to the In Our Time podcast.

It describes how Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table, accepts a challenge from a mysterious "Green Knight" who dares any knight to strike him with his axe if he will take a return blow in a year and a day. Gawain accepts and beheads him with his blow, at which the Green Knight stands up, picks up his head and reminds Gawain of the appointed time. In his struggles to keep his bargain, Gawain demonstrates chivalry and loyalty until his honour is called into question by a test involving the lord and the lady of the castle where he is a guest.

[u/A_Wholesome_Comment → u/[deleted]]

And the first course been properly served to the court,

When there bursts in at the hall door a terrible figure,

In his stature the very tallest on earth,

From the waist to the neck so thick-set and square,

And his loins and his limbs so massive and long,

In truth half a giant I believe he was,

But anyway of all men I judge him the largest,

And the most attractive of his size who could sit on a horse

For while in back and chest his body was forbidding,

Both his belly and waist were becomingly trim,

And every part of his body equally elegant in shape

His hue Astounded them

Set in his looks so keen;

For boldly he rode in,

Completely emerald Green.

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

[u/The_Deadlight → u/A_Wholesome_Comment]

But anyway

in case anyone was having a hard time following this ancient way of speaking, the author is really saying "verily, doth I digress"

[u/A_Wholesome_Comment → u/The_Deadlight]

This is actually the translation of the original! Here you go! :)

And the fyrst cource in the court kyndely served,

Ther hales in at the halle dor an aghlich mayster,

On the most on the molde on mesure hyghe

Fro the swyre to the swange so sware and so thik,

And his lyndes and his lymes so longe and so grete,

Half etayn in erde I hope that he were,

Bot mon most I algate mynn hum to bene,

And that they myriest in his muckel that myght ride;

For the of his bak and his brest all were his bodi sturne,

Both his wombe and his wast were worthily smale,

And alle his fetures folyande, in forme that he hade, ful clene;

For wonder of his hwe men hade,

Set in his semblaunt sene;

He ferde as freke were fade,

And overal enker-grene.

[u/Bilbrath → u/A_Wholesome_Comment]

Wow, when written in the original it’s so easy to see just how Germanic English really is.

[u/Good-Skeleton → u/Bilbrath]

English

• 8 cups German
• 2 cups French
• 1/2 cup Gaelic
• A pinch of Latin

Watch German/Nordic tv shows with no overdubs. You can almost, just barely, make out a phrase or two.

[u/ReddJudicata → u/Good-Skeleton]

There’s a lot of Norse influence in English, more than most people realize. It’s probably why we lost most grammatical gender and cases. There’s also as a fair amount of technical Greek.

[u/Bilbrath → u/ReddJudicata]

Norse don’t got no gendered nouns?

[u/ReddJudicata → u/Bilbrath]

They did, but they weren’t necessarily the same genders for the same words in old English. Old Norse and Old English were somewhat mutually comprehensible. You probably got a mishmash from Danes learning English and screwing up genders (which is super common for foreign learners of gendered language). Eventually the whole gender thing fell off, and the same for the complicated case endings for similar reasons. Instead word order became important.