chalicen.

Etymology: < Latin calix, calic-em cup, has appeared in English in various forms. (1) Early Old English cęlic, genitive cęlces, corresponding to Old Saxon kelik (Middle Dutch kelec, kelc, Dutch kelk), Old High German kelihh, chelih (Middle High German and modern German kelch) < West Germanic *kalik, an early (pre-Christian) adoption of Latin calic-em. (2) The Latin word was re-adopted in later Old English, in Christian use, as calic, cælic, cælc, whence early Middle English calc, calch (compare Old Norse kalk-r). (3) These were ousted in 12th cent. by the Old French caliz, calice. (4) Before 1350 this was in turn ousted by a central Old French form chalice, which gave English chalis, chalice. While this was the case in English, in France itself calice was the form which came down to modern French. (Old French caliz, calice was of learned origin, but early enough to undergo the phonetic change to chalice in central French; in the struggle between the two forms, the influence of Latin calix, familiar in ecclesiastical use, was effective in making calice the ultimate victor.) Strictly, cel(i)c, calch, calice, chalice, are separate words; but their relations are best seen by treating them together.