Cognate Set 230 – Meaning: grass

IE-CoR reference form:
*grasa-
IE-CoR reference language:
Proto-Germanic
Ideophonic:
no
Parallel derivation:
no
Proposed as cognate to:
*grā̆smen- [Proto-Italic] scale: 4
Justification:
Possibly (but not certainly) cognate with Latin grāmen 'grass' in cognate set 8369. Cf. discussion in citations below.
Found in clades:
Germanic
Revised by:
Matthew Scarborough
Found in 1 clade by 23 lexemes.
Language Lexeme Native script Phonetic Phonemic Notes
108   Danish græs ˈɡʁas
114   Dutch gras ɣrɑs
110   English grass ɡɹɑːs Middle English gras, Old English græs
102   Faroese gras ˈɡ̊ɹɛaːs
115   Flemish gras
112   Frisian gers ɡɛːs Removed -J-.
120   German Gras ˈɡʁaːs ˈɡʁaːs
101   Icelandic gras ˈɡ̊raːs
103   Norwegian: Bokmål gress ɡɾɛsː ɡrɛsː
107   Swedish gräs ɡrɛːs
119   Luxembourgish Gras ɡʀaːs ɡʀaːs
106   Old Swedish gräs ɡræs ɡræs
105   Elfdalian gras ɡrɑːs ɡrɑːs
121   German: Bernese Gras ɡraːs ɡraːs
117   Old High German gras ɡras ɡras
111   Old Frisian gers ɡers ɡers
118   Middle High German gras ɡras ɡras
109   Old English græs ɡræs ɡræs
116   Old Saxon gras ɣras ɣras
113   Middle Dutch gras ɣras ɣras
100   Old Icelandic gras ɡras ɡras
99   Gothic gras 𐌲𐍂𐌰𐍃 ɡras ɡras
104   Norwegian: Nynorsk gras ɡʁaːs ɡʁaːs
References
  • Kluge, Friedrich: 371-372
    S.v. NHG Gras (MHG gras, OHG gras, OS gras) from Germ. *grasa- 'Gras, Kraut', also in Goth. gras, ON gras, OE græs. The closest relative in IE seems to be Lat. grāmen (from *grasmen) '(Gras)Stengel', (especially as animal feed). It can also belong to Gk. gráō 'ich fresse', Gk. grástis 'Futterkraut, Grünfutter', Ved. grásati 'verschlingt, frißt'. On the other hand, maybe related to Germ. grō-a- 'wachsen' as a morphologically unclear derivative.
  • Kroonen, Guus: 187, 191
    S.v. Proto-Germanic *grasa- 'grass'. Lat. grāmen, from either *g̑ʰrh₁-mn- or *g̑ʰrh₁s-mn-, is the most evident comparandum for PGmc. *grasa-. However, PGmc. *grasa- cannot be straightforwardly be derived from *g̑ʰrh₁s- since this would yield *gurs-. Instead this should be regarded as a secondary s-stem to the verb *grōan- 'to grow' < *gʰróh₁-e-, an o-grade strong verb to the root *gʰreh₁-.
  • Pooth, Roland: 116
    Argues for a PIE root rather *gras- ~ *gʰras- ~ *kras-, pointing to onomatopoetic ideophonic origin and a meaning 'to devour, graze', cf. Vedic grásate 'devours‘, Greek Cypr. γράσθι (see LIV, 192, note 1); for *gʰras- cf. English grass, German Gras < Proto-Germanic *ɣrasa- n. and Latin grāmen (< *g(ʰ)rásmn n. 'grass'); for *kras- cf. Greek κράστις f. 'grass, hay'.
  • Rix, Helmut: 192
    Cf. s.v. *gres- 'fressen, verschlingen' (IEW 404), cf. n1 possibly also to be reconstructed as *gras- in view of Lat. grāmen if from *gras-mn̥- 'Gras' or as *grens- if the Vedic verbal forms have generalised the zero-grade. Against the latter, however, Vedic grásiṣṭha- should contain an e-grade (and yet does not contain a nasal).
  • Scarborough, Matthew:
    Proto-Germanic *grasa- is generally compared with Lat. grāmen [cf. [cognate set 8369](cog-8369)] but details of the etymology remain disputed. The Leiden dictionaries ([Kroonen 2013](src-165):187 s.v. PGmc. *grasa-, [de Vaan 2008](src-54):269-270) argue to reconcile the reconstructions through postulating a root *⁽g̑⁾ʰreh₁- (not in LIV²) underlying PGmc. *grōan- 'grow', from which the Germanic forms would be a secondary s-stem. [Seebold 1970](src-556):242-243 also suggests the possibility of a connection of Gmc. *grōan- with Lat. grāmen, but has reservations whether the two forms can be compared. Similarly, cf. [Kluge 2011](src-397):371-372 s.v. NHG Gras, where two possibilities are offered: Either to (1) PGmc. grōan- (as [Kroonen 2013](src-165):187 and tentatively [Seebold 1970](src-556):242-243), or alternatively to PIE *gras- (cf. Gk. γράω 'I devour', Ved. grásate 'devours', [LIV²](src-141) 192 s.v. *gres-) with an variant in initial position; cf. also [Pooth 2015](src-693):116 arguing for an onomatopoeic root *g⁽ʰ⁾ras- ~ *kras- (Gk. κράστις 'grass, hay'). It seems very likely that there is a connection between the Germanic lexemes and Latin grāmen, but the problem has not yet been solved in a satisfactory way. [Cogsets for Proto-Italic *grā̆men- [cognate set 8369](cog-8369) and Proto-Germanic *grasa- [cognate set 230](cog-230) have been cross-indexed at value 5/6: large majority view]
  • Seebold, Elmar: 242-243
    Cf. s.v. Gmc. *grō-a- 'wachsen'. "Gm. grō-a-, intr. 'wachsen' hat keine genaue Vergleichsmöglichkeit. In der Regel wird als Erweiterung gm. gras-a-m (n) 'Gras' (in gt., awn. gras, ae. græs, afr. gres, gers, ahd. gras) mit lt. grāmen 'Weide, Gras' verglichen. Letzteres kann aber auch zu idg. gras- 'weiden, fressen' gehören. Vielleicht ist das gm. Verbum eine Variante zu krē- 'wachsen' in lt. crēsco."
  • de Vaan, Michiel: 269-270
    Cf. s.v. Lat. grāmen, -inis 'grass', from PIE *g̑ʰr̥h₁-(s-)mn̥- 'grass', cf. Goth. gras, OHG gras, OIc. gras 'grass'; OE grōwan, OIc. gróa, OHG gruoen 'to grow' < *g̑ʰroh₁-ie/o-; OS grōni, OHG gruoni 'green' < *g̑ʰroh₁-ni-.