An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Korn

by Friedrich Kluge

Korn, n., ‘grain, corn,’ from MidHG. korn, OHG. chorn (gen. chornes), n., ‘corn’ (in MidHG. also ‘grape-stone, corn-field, corn-stalk’). Goth. kaúrn, n., with the variant kaúrnô, n.; OIc. korn, AS. and E. corn, Du. koren; common Teut. stem korna-, meaning ‘single grain,’ then also ‘stone' and ‘fruit.’ For the meaning ‘stone’ comp. OHG. bęrikorn, MidHG. wîn-, trûben-korn, ‘stone of a berry'; OHG. korn- and kërnapful (AS. cornœppel), ‘malum punicum, calville,’ are interchangeable; for the derivative AS. cyrnel, E. kernel, see under Kern. Thus it is probable that there exists a close connection between Kern and Korn, their phonetic relation being similar to that between Brett and Bord; for further examples of gradation in nouns, see under Korb. Another graded form of Korn, from pre-Teut. gṛnó-m, is furnished by Lat. grânum, ‘grain, core’; see Hürde, equiv. to Lat. crates; voll, equiv. to Lat. plênus, OIr. lán. Gṛnó is exactly the same as OSlov. zrŭno, n., ‘grain.’