In this article, Ong addresses the confusion
over how to translate references to deer in Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight. Ong argues that while editions from before the turn of
the century translate references to deer too generally (not distinguishing
between different kinds of deer), editions from the 1940s more correctly
translate references to deer by making a distinction between a hart (male
red deer) and a buck (male fallow deer) and between a hind (female red
deer) and a doe (female fallow deer). The problem with later editions,
however, is that they do not explain the rationale for translating references
to deer more specifically. It is necessary to translate more specifically,
Ong asserts, because the poem actually suggests three kinds of deer (red,
fallow, and roe), which is overlooked when references to deer are translated
too generally.