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[47]
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The division of the word indicates that
the writer adopts the plausible notion that
Sangreal means Real (or Royal) Blood;
and no doubt in ancient as well as modern
times the spelling and sound would
suggest this meaning: but Roquefort shows
clearly that the other is the proper explanation,
both in etymology and (so to speak)
historically. And Helinand, a monk of
Fromont (A.D. 717),
gives the Latin Gradale,
which supplies the link between Graal
and Crater from which Roquefort derives
the former. Helinand’s words are,—‘Hoc
tempore, in Britannia, cuidam eremitae
monstrata est mirabilis quaedam visio per
angelum de sancto Josepho decurione
nobili qui corpus Domini deposuit de
cruce, et de catino illo vel paropside in
quo Dominus coenavit cum discipulis suis;
de qua ab eodem eremita descripta est
historia quae dicitur de Gradal. Gradalis
autem vel Gradale dicitur Gallicè scutella
lata et aliquantulum profunda in qua
pretiosae dapes, cum suo jure, divitibus
solent apponi, et dicitur nomine Graal....
Hanc historiam latine scriptam invenire
non potui, sed tantum Gallicè scripta
habetur a quibusdam proceribus, nec facile
ut aiunt tota inveniri potest.’ Helinandi
Historia, quoted in L’Essai Historique et
Literaire sur l’Abbaye de Fécamp par
Leroux de Lincy, Rouen, 1840.
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