MORGÁIN.  Arthurian.  An early French form of Morgan (q.v.) used by Chrétien, probably derived from Celtic Morrigan (q.v.), meaning "great queen."  Also spelled Morgaine.

    The parallels that we have examined (see Morrigan) assuredly indicate a connection in tradition between Morgain and the Morrigan.  The forms of the two names also point in the same direction; but conclusions that are based on the possible relation of the French and Celtic names must be highly uncertain, for there is always present the possibility that the word Morrigan did not enter France from Ireland directly, but through Wales, where the form that it assumed has perished with the literature in which it may have been embodied.  Also we may as well acknowledge the fact that no fay nor mortal was ever more elusive or erratic in career than is a proper name in mediaeval literature, and that with the multitudinous opportunities for a misunderstanding in an oral or a misspelling in a written source, theories as to its domestication on foreign soil according to strict phonological conventions "gang aft agley."  The relation of the forms of Morgain's name to each other and to Morrigan is a matter into which the element of uncertainty enters too strongly for it to have much weight in establishing the connection between the two mythological figures.  We are treading on surer ground in dealing with the sagas... (Studies in the Fairy Mythology of Arthurian Romance, Paton, 1903).