An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Grand

by Friedrich Kluge

Grand, masculine, ‘gravel,’ first occurs in Modern High German from Low German; just as Mulm (which see) is allied to mahlen, so Grand is probably connected with an Old Teutonic root meaning ‘to grind’; compare Anglo-Saxon grindan, English to grind (from pre-Teutonic root ghrendh, whence also Latin frendo, ‘to gnash’).