An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Gras

by Friedrich Kluge

Gras, neuter, ‘grass,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German gras, neuter; corresponding to Old Saxon and Dutch gras, Anglo-Saxon grœs (gœrs), English grass, Gothic gras, neuter, ‘herb’; common to Teutonic but unknown to the other Aryan languages. Allied to Middle High German gruose (Gothic *grôsa), ‘young shoot, green of plants’; probably the s in these words is a suffix, so that the Teutonic root is grâ-; compare Greek χόρτος, ‘grass.’ An Aryan root ghra- is also attested by Latin grâmen, as well as by Modern High German grün and its cognates.