I am an avid reader and have often delved a lot into Robert Jordan's series The Wheel of Time, a series that falls into the genre of medieval fantasy. The series uses a lot of symbolism, foreshadow and twists in the plot. A word that appears at on point of the book, is the word sa'angreal. In his glossary at the end of the book, Robert Jordan defines Sa'angreal as follows:

Sa'angreal (SAH-ahn-GREE-ahl): Remnants of the Age of Legands that allow channeling much more of the One Power then is otherwise possible or safe. A sa'angreal is similar to, but more powerful than, an angreal. The amount of power that can be wielded with a sa'angreal compares to the amount that can be handeled with an angreal as the Power wielded with the aid of an angreal does to the amount that can be handeled unaided. The making of them is no longer known. As with angreal, there are male and female sa'angreal. Only a handful remain, far fewer even then angreal.

I originally thought that this was one of the many words invented for the medieval fantasy book. Then recently when I read the book, The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown, I came across the word Sangreal there used to mean the Royal bloodline of the Jesus and Mary Magdalene dynasty. When I saw the words in both books, I immediatly felt that Robert Jordan was trying to signify something more then just an object of power when he chose the word Sa'angreal to be used in his books.

Therefore, I am wondering if someone knows where I can get a history of the word Sangreal or Sa'angreal, and if anybody has read the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, what do they feel is the significance Jordan's choice of words?

Saint Graal is Old French for 'Holy Grail', but it's not the cup used at the last supper in every story.

"Holy Grail is M.E. Sangreal (Saint graal), grafted awkwardly onto the Celtic Arthurian legends 12c. by Church scribes in place of some pagan Otherworldly object." www.etymonline.com

Robert Jordan's fantasies, therefore, may refer back to the original object, from pre-Christian times, later replaced by the religiously-correct 'sangreal'.

Dan Brown, on the other hand, seems to have made up his own etymology (maybe), working backwards from the sound of 'sangreal' (dividing the word after the 'g', instead of before it) to sang royal - royal blood.