An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/groß

by Friedrich Kluge

groß, adjective, ‘great, large, huge, grand,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German grôȥ; a specifically West Teutonic adjective (in Gothic mikils, Middle High German michel, Greek μεγάλη); compare Old Saxon grôt, Dutch groot, English great, Anglo-Saxon greát. The assumed Gothic *grauta- (pre-Teutonic ghraudo-) has no correspondences in the non-Teutonic languages. On account of the Teutonic au especially, Latin grandis cannot be primitively allied; it is rather connected with Latin rûdus, raudus, neuter, ‘lump of bronze, stones broken into small pieces,’ and rudis, ‘raw’ (Aryan root ghrū̆d).