Etymograph

English

grail

Grail comes from Old French graal ‘Holy Grail’, and goes back to Medieval Latin gradalis.

  1. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500gradalis
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400graal‘Holy Grail’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500graal
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1989grail

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500gradalis
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400graal‘Holy Grail’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500graal
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1989grail

Earliest quotation: 1989, 1:06:54 from the start, Sr. (Sean Connery): “The quest for the Grail is not archeology. It's…”

The story

From Middle English graal, greal, from Old French graal, greal (‘cup’), from Medieval Latin gradalis, possibly corrupted over time from Latin crater (‘bowl’).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- ‘to mix’

horn, cheer, hart, cerebral, corny, cornea, carotid, cornet, migraine, cerebellum, cairn, procrastinate, cranium, keratin, cerebrum, rother, 52 more

through Latin crater ‘bowl’

crater

Another origin of grail

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgraduale
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400grael
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500grayel
  4. Englishtodaygrail

Today it means

noun The Holy Grail.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Medieval Latin gradalis / grail

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