This grail not yet "holy" appears seemingly out of no-where in the Conte del Graal (also known as Perceval), a French romance by Chretien de Troyes written in the late twelfth century. Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur (1470) renders "Holy Grail" as both "Sankgreal" and "Holy Grayle." He sometimes gives "Sankgreal" a false etymology (from "sang real") as "the blessed bloode of our Lorde Jhesu Crist" instead of the vessel containing it (Sank greal). "Grail" is first recorded in English in 1330 with alternative spellings: greal, graal, and graile. The word "grail" is derived through Old French from the Latin gradale (by degrees) and refers to a type of deep platter from which foods were served course by course at a medieval banquet. Indeed, for a long time, its name had a rather mundane meaning. So glorious, so mysterious, the Holy Grail symbolizes an elusive object of desire.Īlthough now usually identified as the chalice of the Last Supper sought by Arthurian heroes, the Grail has been pictured as a dish, a ciborium, and even a white stone.
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