corn的词源

英文词源

corn

corn: [OE] The underlying sense of corn is of grinding down into small particles. The word comes ultimately from the Indo-European base *ger-, which meant ‘wear away’. From it was derived *grnóm ‘worn-down particle’, which in Latin produced grānum (source of English grain) and in prehistoric Germanic produced *kurnam, which developed into Old English corn.

Already in Germanic times the word had developed in meaning from simply ‘particle’ to ‘small seed’ and specifically ‘cereal grain’, but English corn was not of course applied to ‘maize’ before that plant came to Europe from America in the 16th century. The original sense ‘particle’ survives in corned beef, where corned refers to the grains of salt with which the meat is preserved.

The meaning ‘hackneyed or sentimental matter’ is a 20th-century development, based on the supposedly unsophisticated life of country areas. Kernel comes from an Old English diminutive form of corn. Corn ‘hardening of the skin’ [15] is a completely different word, coming via Anglo- Norman corn from Latin cornū ‘horn’.
=> grain; horn

corn (n.1)

"grain," Old English corn, from Proto-Germanic *kurnam "small seed" (cognates: Old Frisian and Old Saxon korn "grain," Middle Dutch coren, German Korn, Old Norse korn, Gothic kaurn), from PIE root *gre-no- "grain" (cognates: Old Church Slavonic zruno "grain," Latin granum "seed," Lithuanian žirnis "pea"). The sense of the Old English word was "grain with the seed still in" (as in barleycorn) rather than a particular plant.

Locally understood to denote the leading crop of a district. Restricted to the indigenous "maize" in America (c. 1600, originally Indian corn, but the adjective was dropped), usually wheat in England, oats in Scotland and Ireland, while Korn means "rye" in parts of Germany. Maize was introduced to China by 1550, it thrived where rice did not grow well and was a significant factor in the 18th century population boom there. Cornflakes first recorded 1907. Corned beef so called for the "corns" or grains of salt with which it is preserved; from verb corn "to salt" (1560s).

corn (n.2)

"hardening of skin," early 15c., from Old French corne (13c.) "horn (of an animal)," later, "corn on the foot," from Latin cornu "horn," from PIE *ker- (1) "horn; head, uppermost part of the body" (see horn (n.)).

中文词源

corn（谷物）：北美殖民者对美国玉米的误称

英语单词corn在英国和美国的含义相差甚远，值得注意。在英国，corn泛指“谷物”。具体来说，在英格兰指的是“小麦”，在苏格兰和爱尔兰指的是“燕麦”。17世纪时，英国殖民者来到美洲大陆时，看到当地印第安人种的玉米，将其称为“india corn”。其实在英语中表示“玉米”的单词是maize，但由于当时在新英格兰地区玉米是唯一的粮食作物，因为殖民者习惯将其称为india corn，后来缩略为corn，而原本表示“玉米”的maize一词反而很少使用。

corn： [kɔːn] n.（美）玉米，（英）谷物，（皮肤）鸡眼vt.腌，使成颗粒

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：corn 词源，corn 含义。

corn：谷物

词源同grain, 谷物。

corn：谷类，玉米

corn乃本族词，来自古英语。在英国corn统指“谷类”，在英格兰指“小麦”，在苏格兰和爱尔兰则指“燕麦”。17世纪英国殖民者来到美洲大陆看见当地玉米，就把它称作Indiancorn。由于当时玉米为新英格兰地区种植的唯一粮食作物，所以后来人们逐渐地把修饰性形容词Indian省略了。com就这样成了玉米的美国名称，而英国英语则仍沿用maize。在美国英语口语中corn也指“威士忌酒”，因为美国威士忌酒多用玉米酿成。

grain（谷类，谷物）和kernel（果仁，核，谷粒）二词在词源上同corn有较密切的亲缘关系。三词均可溯源到同一印欧词根。grain源于拉丁语granum，直接借自法语grain，而kernel系corn之指小形式，由corn加指小后缀-el所构成。

corn：谷类，玉米

作“谷粒;玉米”时来源于原始印欧语ger-(磨损,侵蚀),拉丁语中为granum(英语grain的词源),史前日耳曼语为kurnam,日耳曼语时期其意义已发生变化： 磨下的小颗粒→小颗粒→小种子→谷粒。作“钉胼,鸡眼”时,来源于拉丁语cornu(动物的角)。

同源词： grain