Sir Walter Scott, in his _Marmion_ (Introduction to Canto First), writes of
Sir Lancelot of the Lake, that--
"A sinful man and unconfessed,
He took the Sangreal's holy quest,
And slumbering saw the vision high
He might not view with waking eye."
In his note on this passage, he refers to the romance of the Morte Arthur,
and says:
"One day when Arthur was holding a high feast with his Knights of the
Round Table, the Sangreal, a vessel out of which the last Passover was
eaten (a precious relic, which had long remained concealed from human
eyes, because of the sins of the land), suddenly appeared to him and
all his chivalry. The consequence of this vision was that all the
knights took on them a solemn vow to seek the Sangreal."
The orthography of the word in the romance itself is _Sancgreall_, which
affords us a clue to what I believe to be its true etymology, _Sang réel_
(Sanguis realis), a name it derived from the tradition of its having been
employed, not only to hold the paschal lamb at the Last Supper, but also by
Joseph of Arimathea to catch the blood and water which flowed from the
wounds of our Blessed Lord.
Archdeacon Nares, in his _Glossary_, pp. 209. 445., enters largely into the
legendary history of the Sangreal, as well as the question of its
orthography. He takes some pains to refute the etymology given above, and
quotes Roquefort (_Dict. de la Langue Romane_) to prove that graal or
_greal_ signifies _a broad open dish_. Will any one who has the means of
consulting Roquefort inform us, whether he brings forward any instance of
the existence of such a word in this sense? or, if so employed, whether
such use may not have arisen from the ordinary erroneous orthography? It is
a question well worth investigation, which I hope may call some abler pens
than mine into exercise.
This holy relic, the object of so much fruitless search to Arthur and his
knights, is now safely deposited in the cathedral of Genoa, where all, holy
or unholy, may behold it, on making the accustomed offering to its
sanctity. Of old, it concealed itself from the eyes of all but those free
from mortal sin; but now, the ability to pay five francs puts one in
possession of every Christian virtue, and the _Sacro Catino_ (as it is
called) is exhibited on the payment of that sum. In addition to the
authorities quoted by Nares, I would refer to Sir F. Palgrave, in _Murray's
Handbook to Northern Italy_, 1st edition, p. 105.