Excalibur

Excalibur , in Arthurian legend , sword given to King Arthur by the Lady of the Lake . At Arthur's death Sir Bedivere threw Excalibur into the lake; a hand rose from the water, caught the sword, and disappeared. Another sword, sometimes mistakenly identified with Excalibur, was drawn from a stone by Arthur to prove his royalty.

Excalibur, a corrupt form of ‘Caliburn’ (the name used in Geoffrey of Monmouth), was King Arthur's sword, which he drew out of a stone when no one else could move it or which was given to him by the Lady of the Lake (Malory, Bk I). When Arthur was mortally wounded in the last battle, he ordered Sir Bedevere to throw Excalibur into the lake. A hand rose from the water, took the sword, and vanished.

Excalibur [Celtic kaleto-, hard (?); W Caledfwlch; MedL Caliburnus; OFr. Escalibor]. King Arthur's magical sword, given him by the Lady of the Lake; not to be confused with the sword he earlier drew from a stone and broke in combat. As long as Arthur carried Excalibur, he could not be defeated; but its scabbard, which preserved him from wounds, was stolen by his sister Morgan le Fay. The Arthurian conception of Excalibur, first presented in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia (1136), has several parallels in Celtic traditions. The English spelling of the name is ultimately derived from the Welsh Caledfwlch, which is cited in Welsh Arthuriana, such as Culhwch ac Olwen. Caledfwlch is nearly identical with the Breton Kaledvoulc'h and is comparable with the Irish Caladbolg.