The story
- Old Welsh · derived fromCaledbulch
- Medieval Latin · derived fromCaliburnus
- Old French · derived fromEscalibor
- Middle English · inherited fromExcalaber
- English todayExcalibur
From Middle English Excalaber, from Old French Escalibor, Escaliborc, prothetic form of Calliborc, alteration of Calibourne, from Medieval Latin Caliburnus (Geoffrey of Monmouth, ca. 1136), influenced by calibs (“steel”) (for chalybs), alteration of Old Welsh Caledbulch (compare modern Caledfwlch), compound of caled (“hard”) and bwlch (“cleft, crack”). Related to the Irish legendary sword Caladbolg, literally ‘hard-belly’, i.e. ‘voracious’.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.