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Camelot sounds, and looks, a lot like the French camelote.
Camelote, though, means something like trash or junk.
Camelot means just the opposite though:
Oxford Dictionary of English (2nd Edition revised):
(in Arthurian legend) the place where King Arthur held his court.
■ [as noun] (a Camelot) a place associated with glittering romance and optimism.
What's the etymology of Camelot?
Is there any relation at all between Camelot and camelote?
Camelot actually comes from medieval French literature, but its initial derivation is still quite uncertain. I think that the etymology of the French camelote is different, ( probably from Chameau) and refers to fabrics of poor quality.
Camelot: (TFD)
- In Arthurian legend, the site of King Arthur's court.
- A place or time of idealized beauty, peacefulness, and enlightenment.
Camelot (n.) : ( etymonline)
- a name first found in medieval French romances; it corresponds to Latin Camuladonum, the Roman forerunner of Colchester, which was an impressive ruin in the Middle Ages. But Malory identifies it with Winchester and Elizabethans tended to see it as Cadbury Castle, an Iron Age hill fort near Glastonbury.
- Renowned Arthurian scholar Ernst Brugger suggested that it was a corruption of Camlann,[10] the site of Arthur's final battle in Welsh tradition. Roger Sherman Loomis believed it was derived from Cavalon, a place name that he suggested was a corruption of Avalon (under the influence of the Breton place name Cavallon). He further suggested that Cavalon/Camelot became Arthur's capital due to confusion with Arthur's other traditional court at Carlion (Caer Lleon in Welsh).
