Unless the alliteration is to be monotonous, there must be many synonyms for common words like man, kniȝt: e.g. burne 3, wyȝe 6, lede 27, gome 50, freke 57, tulk 65, knape 68, renk 138, most of which survive only by reason of their usefulness in alliterative formulae. Similarly, a number of verbs are used to express the common idea 'to move (rapidly)': boȝen 9, schowued 15, wonnen 23, ferked 105, romeȝ 130, keuereȝ 153, whyrlande 154, &c. Here the group of synonyms arises from weakening of the ordinary prose meanings; and this tendency to use words in colourless or forced senses is a general defect of alliterative verse. For instance, it is hard to attach a precise meaning to note 24, gedereȝ 92, glodes 113, wruxled 123, kest 308.
The Gawayne poet is usually artist enough to avoid the worst fault of alliterative verse—the use of words for mere sound without regard to sense, but there are signs of the danger in the empty, clattering line:
Bremly broþe on a bent þat brode watȝ aboute 165.
Inflexions: The rime waþe: ta þe 287-9 shows that organic final -e was sometimes pronounced in the poet's dialect.
VERB: pres. ind. 1 sg. haf 23; leue 60.
2 sg. spelleȝ 72.
3 sg. prayses 4; tas 237.
2 pl. ȝe han 25.
3 pl. han 345.
imper. pl. gotȝ (= gǭs) 51, cayreȝ 52.