Did you know the "sword in the stone" theory? The one that effectively boils down to "it was a typo"?
I don't remember dates, but wat you have is an early manuscript being copied a few centuries later. The early script had an abbreviation (parchment being expensive) that if you had an "ono" you represented it by using a single "o" with a dot over it. Later copyist either didn't know this, or missed the dot. He wrote that Arthur took the sword "ex saxo" - from the stone. Original had him taking it "ex saxono" - from the Saxon.
The Orlanthi are right. Stick to oral tradition. It's more accurate.
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