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The Holy Grail is a dish, plate, stone, or cup that is part of an important theme of Arthurian literature. According to legend, it has special powers, and is designed to provide happiness, eternal youth and food in infinite abundance. A grail, wondrous but not explicitly holy, first appears in ''Perceval le Gallois'', an unfinished romance by Chrétien de Troyes:〔Loomis, Roger Sherman (1991). ''The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol''. Princeton. ISBN 0-691-02075-2 ()〕 it is a processional salver used to serve at a feast. Chrétien's story attracted many continuators, translators and interpreters in the later 12th and early 13th centuries, including Wolfram von Eschenbach, who makes the grail a great precious stone that fell from the sky. The Grail legend became interwoven with legends of the Holy Chalice.〔(BBC History Gallery, Holy Grail )〕 The connection with Joseph of Arimathea and with vessels associated with the Last Supper and crucifixion of Jesus dates from Robert de Boron's ''Joseph d'Arimathie'' (late 12th century) in which Joseph receives the Grail from an apparition of Jesus and sends it with his followers to Great Britain. Building upon this theme, later writers recounted how Joseph used the Grail to catch Christ's blood while interring him and how he founded a line of guardians to keep it safe in Britain. The legend may combine Christian lore with a Celtic myth of a cauldron endowed with special powers. ==Origins== The word ''graal'', as it is earliest spelled, comes from Old French ''graal'' or ''greal'', cognate with Old Provençal ''grazal'' and Old Catalan ''gresal'', meaning "a cup or bowl of earth, wood, or metal" (or other various types of vessels in different Occitan dialects).〔Diez, Friedrich. An etymological dictionary of the Romance languages, Williams and Norgate, 1864, p. 236.〕 The most commonly accepted etymology derives it from Latin ''gradalis'' or ''gradale'' via an earlier form, ''cratalis'', a derivative of ''crater'' or ''cratus'', which was, in turn, borrowed from Greek ''krater'' (κρατήρ, a large wine-mixing vessel).〔〔Nitze, William A. Concerning the Word Graal, Greal, Modern Philology, Vol. 13, No. 11 (Mar., 1916), pp. 681-684 .〕〔Jung, Emma and von Franz, Marie-Louise. The Grail Legend, Princeton University Press, 1998, pp. 116-117.〕〔Skeat, Walter William. Joseph of Arimathie, Pub. for the Early English Text Society, by N. Trübner & Co., 1871, pp. xxxvi-xxxvii〕〔Mueller, Eduard. Etymologisches Wörterbuch der englischen Sprache: A-K, chettler, 1865, p. 461.〕 Alternative suggestions include a derivative of ''cratis'', a name for a type of woven basket that came to refer to a dish,〔Barber, Richard. The Holy Grail: imagination and belief, Harvard University Press, 2004, p. 93.〕 or a derivative of Latin ''gradus'' meaning "'by degree', 'by stages', applied to a dish brought to the table in different stages or services during a meal".〔Richard O'Gorman , "Grail" in Norris J. Lacy, ''The Arthurian Encyclopedia'', 1986〕 The Grail was considered a bowl or dish when first described by Chrétien de Troyes. Hélinand of Froidmont described a grail as a "wide and deep saucer" (''scutella lata et aliquantulum profunda''); other authors had their own ideas. Robert de Boron portrayed it as the vessel of the Last Supper. The Welsh romance ''Peredur'' had no Grail per se, presenting the hero instead with a platter containing his kinsman's bloody, severed head. In ''Parzival'', Wolfram von Eschenbach, citing the authority of a certain (probably fictional) Kyot the Provençal, claimed the Grail was a stone (called ''lapis exillis'') that fell from Heaven, and had been the sanctuary of the neutral angels who took neither side during Lucifer's rebellion. The authors of the Vulgate Cycle used the Grail as a symbol of divine grace. Galahad, illegitimate son of Lancelot and Elaine, the world's greatest knight and the Grail Bearer at the castle of Corbenic, is destined to achieve the Grail, his spiritual purity making him a greater warrior than even his illustrious father. Galahad and the interpretation of the Grail involving him were picked up in the 15th century by Sir Thomas Malory in ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', and remain popular today. According to the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'', after the cycle of Grail romances was well established, late medieval writers came up with a false etymology for ''sangréal'', an alternative name for "Holy Grail". In Old French, ''san graal'' or ''san gréal'' means "Holy Grail" and ''sang réal'' means "royal blood"; later writers played on this pun. Since then, "Sang real" is sometimes employed to lend a medievalising air in referring to the Holy Grail. This connection with royal blood bore fruit in a modern bestseller linking many historical conspiracy theories (see below). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Holy Grail」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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