202
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. i. MAR. n, im.
norum" (XVII. vi. 1, p. 124). I am not able to identify Salutaria, eo nomine. Thus far we have unquestionable and contemporary authority for the statements reproduced.
We are postulated, therefore, upon (1) the phrase "doctus Græca quædam arcana"; (2) the non-Teutonic and non-Germanic personal name Serapio; (3) the conflux of tribes called Alemanni collectively, and Suevi, Iuthungi, Lentienses, &c., individually; (4) the advancement of an Alemannic king to be Duke of Pœenicia at some date during the supremacy of Julian—to wit, between Nov. 3, 361, and Feb. 17, 364; and (5) the quartering of Iuthungi and "Pacified" Alemanni in Syria and Phoenicia soon after Julian succeeded to the empire.
The elucidation of the first two points is dependent upon the identification of Serapio. Now that name (if the memory of Agenaric, son of Mederic, who bore it, had been preserved among the Upper Germans) would behave in a certain phonological way after the fifth century had run its course. In Old High Dutch p in exotic loan words became ph; cp. kuphar, kamph with cupr-um and camp-us. Consequently the name of Serapio may be expected to become *Seraphi- and later Seraphé; cp. putē-us < O.H.D. phuzzi > phuzze. The latter form, Seraphé, undoubtedly occurred in the document that Helinand of Froidmont referred to in the early years of the thirteenth century. That document is lost, but it may be believed to have been the source whence the several romances of the Grail cycle derived their substance and common origin. The late Alfred Nutt, in his 'Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail,' 1888, p. 45, gives the following summary of the opening passages of one of these romances, namely, the 'Queste del Saint Graal':—
"Forty-two years after the Passion of Jesus Christ, Joseph of Arimathea left Jerusalem and came to Sarras, where he helped Evelac. That king received baptism at the hands of Josephes together with his brother-in-law Seraphé, who took the name of Nasciens and became a pillar of the holy faith; so that the great secrets of the Holy Grail [the Græca arcana of Ammian] were opened to him . . . . Evelac dreamed that out of his nephew Celidoine, son of Nasciens, came forth a great lake whence issued nine streams . . . . This Celidoine was the man whom Lancelot saw in a vision, surrounded by stars, and this because he knew the course of the stars and the manner of the planets; and he was the first king of Scotland and the nine streams were his descendants."
As it stands the font-name "Nasciens" cannot be readily explained. If I may emend it to Nascens, "young," "immature," we are immediately reminded that Ammian said of Serapio that he was a beardless youth in 357, and that his efficiency as a leader outstripped his years.
In the 'Grand Saint Graal,' another legend
of the same cycle, it is at Sarras that we
first hear of Seraphé. Sarras, we are told,,
was a town on the Euphrates between
Babylon and "Salamandre." Now "Sala-
mandre" near the Euphrates, of the Grail
egend; "Salutaria " in either Syria or
Augusta Euphratensis, of the 'Notitia
Dignitatum'; and "Salaminias" on our
maps of Cœle Syria, reflect one another and
indicate the same Roman military station.
The tradition of the name is confused, and,
in so far as the stories about the Holy Grail
are concerned, we must not look for accuracy
in the names of towns or countries. One of
the countries mentioned in one episode, for
instance, is "Hortoblande," i.e., *Hortob(
symbol characters)lande < Nortomberlande. If Agenaric-Serapio served in Asia Minor in 362, with Wadomari and the Almains and Juthungas under Julian, he was, of course, still quite young when "Josephes" baptized him at "Sarras."
The proof and application of all this may be drawn from a synchronistic statement made in the 'Grand Saint Graal' itself, ed. Hucher, 1877, vol. ii. p. 405. That statement is to the effect that Seraphé's son Celidoines (referred to in the summary printed above) was born at "Orberique" during a wonderful eclipse of the sun. This eclipse actually took place on June 16, 364, at midday. I first drew attention to the existence of this unique record of a fourth-century solar eclipse visible in the Britannias, in The Athenæum of June 5, 1909, p. 677. Orbérique (< *Corberique < Corbenic) is a form of the name of the Grail City, i.e., Corbin, or Binchester. In this name "Cor" = Cār, the O.E. rule-right form of British Cair.
"Celidoines" is Old French, the Gallic Celidonius. There was a Bishop of Vesontio[1] of this name in the fifth century. "Celidonius" is also the precursor of the Middle Welsh "Celyddon." He was "Gwledig," or Dux Britanniarum, and his son Kilydd married a daughter of Anllawdd Wledig by Gwen, daughter of Cunidda Wledig, the "Tchionatu Lander" of another episode of the
Grail cycle. Another of Anllawdd's daughters, Eigra by name, was mother of King Arthur, who was born in 444, and died in 492. All
- ↑ The acute reader will not fail to notice the parallel in the treatment of Latin V in Besançon < Vesontio, and Binchester (Cōrbin) < Vinovia. Cp. also Bazas < Vasatæ.
