grain

Forms

grain m (plural grains)^[1] Old French grain and grein.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French grain, inherited from Latin grānum (“grain, seed”).^[2][3][4][5] Rey connects the Latin word with an Indo-European root also behind Germanic *kurnam, whence German Korn and English corn.^[4][6] Wiktionary takes it back to Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm.^[1]

The nautical sense “squall” (1552) is probably the same word, named after the hailstones that often come with a sudden storm;^[2][4] Bloch and Wartburg find this explanation not certain, though the derivative grenasse “small storm” (1803) supports it,^[5] and Littré, while doubting it too, rejects the proposed alternatives, English rain and Dutch gram (“furious”).^[7]

Cognate with Italian grano, Spanish grano, Portuguese grão, Occitan gran, Catalan gra and Romanian grâu.^[8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1160 the Roman d'Énéas has grain de blé, a grain of wheat, the edible seed of a cereal.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Like Latin granum, the word spread from the seed of cereals to any small round fruit (grein de reisin, about 1225) and to small round objects (about 1200).^[2][4] About 1170 it described the texture of a solid body, and about 1188 a roughness of the skin, the sense behind grain de beauté;^[2][4] grain d'orge “sty” is recorded in 1660.^[2][4] From about 1200 it meant a tiny amount in negative sentences, like goutte and mie, but ne … grain died out in Middle French while pas and point prevailed.^[4][2]

Collectively, le grain is the part of cereals that is ground into flour, and also seed for sowing (1538); as a symbol of birth, it meant “origin” from about 1245.^[4][2] Grain de folie is recorded in 1640 and the figurative grain de sel in Molière in 1663.^[2]

The sense “squall”, a short violent wind often bringing hail, rain or snow, dates from Rabelais (1552); sailors said veiller au grain in 1831, and the phrase passed into general use with a figurative sense in 1834.^[2][4]

Timeline

• c. 1160 – Grain de blé in the Roman d'Énéas.^[2]
• c. 1170 – Used for the texture of a solid body.^[2][4]
• c. 1188 – Used for a roughness on the skin.^[2]
• c. 1200 – Used for round objects and for a tiny amount in negative sentences.^[2][4]
• c. 1225 – Grein de reisin, a grape.^[2]
• c. 1245 – Philippe Mousket uses it figuratively for an origin.^[2]
• 1538 – Estienne records it for seed corn.^[2][4]
• 1552 – Rabelais uses it for a squall.^[2][5]
• 1640 – Grain de folie in Oudin.^[2]
• 1660 – Oudin records grain d'orge “sty”.^[2]
• 1663 – Molière uses grain de sel figuratively.^[2]
• 1831 – Veiller au grain in sailors' language.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The seed of a cereal; collectively, le grain or les grains, harvested cereals.^[6][2]
2. Seed for sowing.^[6]
3. A small round fruit or seed, such as a grape or a coffee bean: café en grains.^[6]
4. A small round object, such as a bead of a chapelet.^[6]
5. A tiny particle: grain de sable, grain de poussière.^[6]
6. The texture of a surface or material: le grain de la peau, le grain d'un papier.^[6]
7. Grain de beauté: a small mole on the skin.^[6]
8. Un grain de: a very small amount of something: un grain de folie;^[6] avoir un grain: to be a little mad.^[6]
9. (dated) A small unit of weight, about 0.053 gram.^[6]
10. (nautical) A squall, a sudden short violent wind, usually with rain, snow or hail; also a sudden brief shower;^[6][2][1] veiller au grain: to be on one's guard.^[6][2][1]

Word family

• gros-grain

Related words

• grenier
• graine
• grange
• Latin grānum

Usage notes

Mettre son grain de sel means to butt into a conversation or affair uninvited.^[6][1] Old French also had an unrelated adjective graim, also written grain, meaning “sad, afflicted”, from a Germanic gram.^[9][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 227b
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)