Etymology
Grosgrain is both a direct French loan word and a corruption of and folk adaptation of the French word Grogram. Grogram, originally gros gram (appeared in literature in 1562) defined as a coarse, loosely woven fabric of silk, silk and mohair, or silk and wool. The adjective gros means "relatively very large," hence coarsely big and fat, thence coarse, originally from the Old French gros itself derived from the Latin grossus.
"Grain" is derived from Old French graine, itself derived form the Latin grana (plural of granum)- seed or in some contexts texture
Thus gros gram, grogram and grosgrain are all one and the same: a large grain hence coarse texture, thence a coarse-textured fabric.
Read more about this topic: Grosgrain
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)