# A query concerning Sir Gawain



## After Chimaeras (May 12, 2004)

Greetings!
I recently read Tolkien's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which by the way was superb, and I noticed that on not a few occasions Gawains name was shown as "Wawain". Initially, I thought this was a typo, but it occurred several more times, too many to be simply a typo. I was wondering if anyone knew why this was? By-the-by I have the paperback version containing Pearl and Sir Orfeo as well. Thank you for your time.


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## Flame of Udûn (May 13, 2004)

It is not a typographical error. It is an alternate form. I have seen it in some translations of Mort d'Arthur, though I cannot tell you the reason or how it differs in meaning.


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## After Chimaeras (May 13, 2004)

Ah, I see. I suspected that, and I remember now that happening in L'Morte d'Arthur. Thank you so very much for your input.


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## joplin4 (Sep 6, 2005)

We talked about this the other day in class and I believe "Gawain" is the Christian name and "Wawain" is the pagan name.


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## Walter (Sep 22, 2005)

> In "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" Gawain is sometimes spelled Wawain. I don't know for sure why this is so, but the different spelling can also be noted in the original Middle English text.
> 
> My - educated, hopefully - guess is, that the different spelling has its origin in the different pronounciation of the Welsh (or Celtic) "Gw".
> 
> ...



Text Courtesy of the TolkienWiki


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## Lady_of_Gondor (Dec 11, 2005)

Oh no! I think I stole your thread. I started a new one on Sir Gawain. But the subject matter is more general. Sorry!

Anyway, I agree with what the others have said here.


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## Wolfshead (Dec 12, 2005)

joplin4 said:


> We talked about this the other day in class and I believe "Gawain" is the Christian name and "Wawain" is the pagan name.


I'm not sure you could say _Wawain_ a pagan version of the name at all. How would you define the pagan term? If I remember rightly the origins of the name Gawain comes from the bible, and the pre-Medieval reworkings of the Arthurian legends is _Gwalchmai_, meaning "hawk of spring", or "hawk of may". _Gwalch_ means eagle in Gaelic and the exact meaning of _mai_ is disputed. I've never come across the term _Wawain_, and I'm not sure there would even ever have been a pagan term, as such, before.


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## pendraig (Jan 23, 2006)

Just an "educated" guess. In the Welsh tongue (I believe that this is true of Gaelic as well), the first letters in certain nouns "mutate" depending upon the noun's place (subject, direct object, indirect object) in the sentence. 
Example: The Welsh word for Wales is Cymru. When entering Wales from England, you will see a sign that says "Croeso y Gymru." (Welcome to Wales). The C in Cymru has mutated to a G because Gymru is the direct object rather that the subject. It makes Welsh words really hard to look up in a lexicon if you're searching for the mutated form.
I'm not well enough educated in this language to tell you if Gawain mutates to Wawain, but it might be worth looking into.


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## Wolfshead (Jan 23, 2006)

I'll admit I know nothing of languages 'mutuating' as such, for my knowledge of Welsh and Gaelic is really quite limited. Perhaps someone else will be able to shed some light on it?


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## jallan (Apr 25, 2007)

The form _Gawain_ < _Gauuain_ is of French origin. But French forms tend to change original initial _gw_ to _g_. Also _al_ usually becomes _au_. 

But in English there is a tendency to drop the initial _g_ in a _gw_ combination.

Accordingly French _Gaudin_ equates to English _Waldin_, French _Gautier_ equates to English _Walter_, and, of course, French _Gauuain_ equates to English _Walwain_. Note also that English _Wales_ equates to French _Gales_.

Both forms (_Gawain_ and _Wa(l)wain_) appear in English medieval poems. I suppose the _w_ form might sound more homely to a Middle-English listener to such a poem, while _Gawain_ might seem more formal.

What was the original form of the name? That's unknown. But using such early forms as _Galvaginus_ on the Modena Archivolt one can postulate an earlier trisyllabic form pronounced something like _Gwalvayin_ or _Gwalwayin_ in which the _ay_ is prounced as the English word _eye_.

But the form as it stands isn't obviously either Breton or Welsh. In Welsh literature _Gwalchmai_ or _Gwalchmei_ appears as the name of the same character, but that form can't be turned into something like _Gwalwayin_. Accordingly it is suspected that originally _Gwalchmei_ referred to a separate character developed in Welsh romances whereas _Gwalwayin_ developed in Breton or French romances. When French romances of Arthur became known in Wales after William's conquest, the two were equated because of a similarity of names.

Similarly the knight Erec (or Guerec) in French romances was equated with the Welsh _Gereint_ and French _Perceval_ was equated with Welsh _Peredur_, again probably because of a likeness between the names.


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## Aldanil (Jun 21, 2007)

Not that all the word-historical erudition which has preceded this entry should be thought for naught, but the primary reason for the occasional substitution of "Wawain" for "Gawain" in Tolkien's translation of _Sir G & the GK_ is musical, rather than etymological: the verse-form employed by the Pearl Poet in his original romance, written in a northwestern dialect of Middle English, and faithfully adopted by our Dear Don, is strongly alliterative (in the earlier manner of the Anglo-Saxons), and a "W" every now and then, instead of just "G" all the time, allows for a somewhat greater freedom and variety.


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