Merlin declares, "But if you are a bear, Cub, then we shall call you Artus, for that means bear-man." This one of several allusions to Arthurian lore in Merlin. In this case it refers to an ancient text that calls the leader of the Romanized Britons of the late 400s and early to mid 500s a "bear." The word in Celtic is artos; in Merlin, it is Artus.

It is an easy leap to Arthur from there. The name Arthur probably comes from Latin (maybe Artorius), but the ancient chronicler may have used the Celtic word for bear as an alternative to using the name of Arthur, someone he apparently disliked.

Merlin's dream of the bear in chapter 1 is a fine bit of foreshadowing: He dreamed about a bear in the forest. A bear with a gold coronet on its head. A bear that walked upright...