Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/146

---

grǫnu, OIc. grǫn, ‘moustache.’ To the Goth grana, recorded by Isidore, are due Span. greña, ‘tousled hair,’ and OFr. grenon, ‘moustache and whiskers.’ The Teut. cognates are primit. allied to OIr. grend, Gael. greann, ‘moustache’ and ‘shaggy hair.’ See Grat.

Grans, m., ‘ship's beak,’ from MidHG. grans, m., ‘bird's beak, ship's beak,’ OHG. grans, granso, ‘ship's beak’; a corresponding word is wanting in the other Teut. languages. Origin obscure.

grapsen, vb., ‘to grasp, snatch,’ simply ModHG.; probably allied primit. to ModHG. Garbe, and E. to grab, to grasp, Sans. gṛbh, ‘to seize,’ Lith. grópti, ‘to snatch, grasp.’

Gras, n., ‘grass,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and OHG. gras, n.; corresponding to OSax. and Du. gras, AS. grœs (gœrs), E. grass, Goth. gras, n., ‘herb’; common to Teut. but unknown to the other Aryan languages. Allied to MidHG. gruose (Goth. *grôsa), ‘young shoot, green of plants’; probably the s in these words is a suffix, so that the Teut. root is grâ-; comp. Gr. χόρτος, ‘grass.’ An Aryan root ghra- is also attested by Lat. grâmen, as well as by ModHG. grün and its cognates.

gräßlich, adj., ‘horrible, hideous, ghastly,’ formed from early ModHG. graß; the latter is derived from MidHG. graȥ, ‘furious, angry,’ of which OHG. preserves only the adv. graȥȥo, ‘violently, very’; Goth. *grata-, as well as correspondences in the remaining dialects, is wanting. Goth. grêtan, ‘to weep’ (MidHG. grâȥen), is scarcely allied.

Grat, m., and Gräte, f., ‘point, ridge, fish-bone,’ from MidHG. grât, m., ‘fish-bone, awn, back-bone, mountain ridge’; in ModHG. the word has assumed two forms, according to the meanings. Since Graune, ‘awn,’ has also the dial. sense ‘fish-bone,’ both words may perhaps be traced back to a common root gra-, ‘to be pointed, bristly.’

grau, adj., ‘grey,’ from the equiv. MidHG. grâ (gen. grâwes), OHG. grâo (gen. grâwes); corresponding to Du. graauw, AS. grœ̂g, E. grey, gray, OIc. grár, ‘grey.’ Its origin and further relations cannot be traced; Aryan ghrêw?.

Gräuel, m., from the equiv. MidHG. griul, griuwel, m., ‘terror, horror, abomination’ (Du. gruwel); allied to ModHG. grauen, MidHG. grûwen, ‘to horrify, terrify,’ OHG. ingrûên, ‘to shudder.’ Akin

also to ModHG. grausam, from MidHG. grûwesam, ‘exciting terror’; ModHG. gräulich, from MidHG. griuwelich. The root grû, ‘to frighten,’ is wanting in the rest of the OTeut. dialects. See Graus.

Graupe, f., ‘peeled grain or barley,’ first occurs in early ModHG.; in the 15th cent. the compound îs-grûpe, ‘hailstone,’ is recorded. Allied to Swed. grœpe, grjupe, ‘shot,’ as well as Russ. krupa, OSlov. krupa, ‘crumb,’ Serv. krupa, ‘hail, sleet.’ Probably the cognates are native to Slavonic.

Graus, n., ‘horror, dread,’ from MidHG. grûs, m., ‘dread, terror’; allied to ModHG. grausen, MidHG. grûsen, griusen, OHG. grûwisôn, grûsôn, ‘to be terrified’; formed from the suffix -isôn and the root grû. See Gräuel, where grausam is also discussed.

Grauß, m., ‘gravel,’ from MidHG., grûȥ. See Grieß.

Greif, m., ‘griffin,’ from the equiv. MidHG. grîf, grîfe, OHG. grîf, grîfo, m. Whether the word was adopted from Greek through an Eastern source before the 8th cent. (hence the change of p into f) is questionable; in any case, Gr. γρύψ, ‘griffin’ (stem γρῦπ; ν in the Byzantine and modern pronunciation equal to î; comp. Leier), must be regarded as the final source of Greif; see also Drache. Chiefly through the legends concerning Duke Ernst the griffin became popular in Germany, though not among the other Teutons. In Romance too the bird is similarly named — Ital. griffo, griffone, Fr. griffon (E. griffin). Hence OHG. grîfo and its Romance correspondences are probably to be traced back to a MidLat. grîphus, derived from the Greek word; comp. also OIr. gríf. Since, moreover, the belief in fabulous birds that carry off men is genuinely Teut., a Teut. form *grîpo, ‘snatcher’ (allied to greifen), may have been combined with γρῦπ-.

greifen, vb., ‘to grasp, seize,’ from the equiv. MidHG. grîfen, OHG. grîfan, str. vb.; corresponding to OSax. grîpan, Du. grijpen, AS. grîpan, E. to gripe, Goth. greipan, ‘to seize, lay hold of’; a common Teut. vb., whence Fr. gripper, ‘to clutch,’ and griffe, ‘claw.’ In the non-Teut. languages there exists an allied Aryan root ghrī̆b, in Lith. greibiu, greibti, ‘to seize,’ and Lett. griba, ‘will,’ gribêt, ‘to wish.’

greinen, vb., ‘to whine, grin,’ from the equiv. MidHG. grînen, OHG. grînan, str. vb., ‘to distort the mouth with laughing or crying, grumble, snarl,’ allied to