Friday, April 8, 2016

A-to-Z Challenge: G

It’s been a full week of doing the Challenge. How are you holding up?


Anyway, today we’re looking at grit. It comes from the Old English greot, which means earth or sand, the Proto Germanic greutan, tiny particles of crushed rock, and the Proto Indo European ghreu, rub or grind. Grits, like you’d eat, is of course related, although it has a slightly different history. It comes from the Old English grytt, bran, and the Proto Germanic grutja, which comes from greutan. I guess they took the word for crushed grain from the word for pieces of crushed rock, which makes sense. For once.

Sources
Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English

15 comments:

  1. Something must be up… A word that's origins make sense? No way!

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  2. I agree with Kate - this is suspicious - word origins aren't supposed to actually be logical :)
    Tasha
    Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)

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  3. I was waiting for the word Groot to be there in the mix...

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  4. I love the word grit and use it to describe my own determination :) Have a lovely weekend Misha and thanks for taking the time to visit my blog throughout the week.

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  5. Laughing at Kate's comment. If word origins continue to make sense, I don't know what we'll do. :)

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  6. I've somehow managed to get through life without eating grits.



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  7. Words are fascinating, aren't they? I began blogging because of my interest in words and idioms. My A to Z posts are @suesconsideredt from Sue’s Trifles
    and Sue’s words and pictures

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  8. Grit is a perfect word for this challenge. It's what it takes to move from A to Z in one month! Best of luck.

    Molly of Molly's Canopy
    http://mollyscanopy.com/

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  9. Okay, looks like all the jokes have already been made. So, I'll just keep my clever retorts to myself.

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  10. I always think of dirt when I hear the word grit.

    Susan Says

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  11. I really like grits! But like most cornmeal things, they benefit from lots of dairy fat -- especially butter. I like the connection to crushed grains and crushed rocks. I am trying to make my A-Z posts a little gritty...actually that's not really true, but maybe it's a good direction. Good luck with the challenge!

    http://reelfan.com/

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  12. When I was a kid, I thought grits were crushed rocks.

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  13. I never thought of grit and grits as being related.

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Please validate me.