Avalon - Etymology, Adaptations

In Celtic mythology, the land of the dead, the place to which King Arthur was taken after his death. The name possibly means ‘land of apples’.

Avalon (probably from the Celtic word abal: apple;

Avalon is sometimes referred to as the legendary location where Jesus visited the British Isles with Joseph of Arimathea and that it was later the site of the first church in Britain. This location of the Isle of Avalon is usually associated with present day Glastonbury.

It is also said to be the place where the body of King Arthur is buried.

As early at least as the beginning of the 11th century the tradition that Arthur was buried at Glastonbury Tor appears to have taken shape. In the reign of Henry II, according to the chronicler Gerald of Wales and others, the abbot Henry de Blois commissioned a search, apparently discovering at the depth of 5 m (16 feet) a massive oak trunk or coffin with an inscription Hic jacet sepultus inclitus rex Arthurus in insula Avalonia. ("Here lies King Arthur in the island of Avalon").

A nearby valley is named the Vale of Avalon.

However, the Glastonbury legend has frequently been perceived as a fraud due, among other things, to the perceived anachronistic inscription which would have been more fitting to the 10th century than the 6th, the lack of any mention of said discovery in the 10th century, which would not have gone unheard of, added to possible ulterior motives from the abbey.

Others have claimed the most likely location to be St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, which is near to other locations associated with the Arthurian legends.

Etymology

According to one theory the word is an anglicisation of the Brythonic "Annwyn", the realm of fairies, or netherworld, but this would be a major corruption.

Adaptations

Avalon is typically featured in the countless adaptations of Arthurian legend. Some of the popular fantasy novelist Marion Zimmer Bradley's books place special emphasis on Avalon:

The Mists of Avalon Ancestors of Avalon The Forest House Lady of Avalon Priestess of Avalon

T.A. Barron's series The Great Tree of Avalon features a fanciful Avalon, a massive tree, inadvertently created by Merlin.