quern

English

An Early Neolithic (3700 - 3500 BC) saddle quern and rubbing stone

Alternative forms

• kern
• curn

Etymology

From Middle English quern, cwerne, from Old English cweorn (“quern, hand-mill, mill”), from Proto-Germanic *kwernuz, *kwernō (“millstone”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerǝun-, *gʷrāun- (“millstone”). Cognate with North Frisian quern (“quern”), Dutch kweern (“quern”), Middle High German kurn (“millstone”), Danish kværn (“grinder”), Swedish kvarn (“mill, grinder”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kwɜːn/

Noun

quern (plural querns)

1. A mill for grinding corn, especially a hand-mill made of two circular stones
   • 1978, Robert Nye, Merlin,

     She is shaking in ingredients from various small bottles and querns produced from the pockets of her robes, and from the drawer in the wooden table.

Verb

quern (third-person singular simple present querns, present participle querning, simple past and past participle querned)

1. (transitive) To grind.

See also

• quirn

Translations

mill

• Armenian: երկանք (hy) (erkankʿ)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 手推磨 (cmn) (shǒutuīmó)

• Dutch: handmolen (nl) m
• Finnish: jauhaa (fi)
• French: moulin à bras (fr) m

• German: Handmühle (de) f
• Japanese: 碾き臼 (ja) (ひきうす, hikiusu), ひき臼 (ja) (ひきうす, hikiusu)
• Manx: braain (gv)
• Russian: ручная мельница (ručnája mélʹnica) f
• Scottish Gaelic: brà (gd) f