Talk:gruel

Is the verb meaning related to German Gräuel? 72.160.177.181 03:10, 12 May 2015 (UTC)

German Gräuel appears to come ultimately from an Old High German *grūēn (> German grauen (“to terrify”)), of uncertain affiliation. To be related to gruel I would expect to see a medial z/zz which just isn't present. Leasnam (talk) 03:31, 12 May 2015 (UTC)

OHG grūēn is attested (albeit not in the infinitive) and the root is also found in English "gruesome". This may in fact be related with the word in "groat, grout, gruel", but only insofar as it may be from the same PIE root (*gʰer- "to grind"). Beyond this, there's no direct relation with "to gruel", because this is a recent derivation from "have one's gruel". 84.63.31.91 23:33, 30 May 2024 (UTC)