Etymology
1. "grain," O.E.
corn, from P.Gmc.
*kurnam "small seed," from PIE base
*ger- "wear away" (O.Slav.
zruno "grain," Skt.
jr- "to wear down," L.
granum). The sense of the O.E. word was "grain with the seed still in" rather than a particular plant. Locally understood to denote the leading crop of a district. Restricted to corn on the cob in America (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. 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.
Cornrows as a hair style is first recorded 1971.
Corny "old-fashioned" is Amer.Eng. 1932, originally, "something appealing to country folk."
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂-
4. Proto-Indo-European *-nóm
5. Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂-nós
6. Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm
7. Proto-Germanic *kurną
8. Proto-West Germanic *korn
9. Old English corn
10. Middle English corn
11. English corn
12. Inherited from Middle English corn, from Old English corn, from Proto-West Germanic *korn, from Proto-Germanic *kurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm (“grain; worn-down”), from *ǵerh₂- (“grow old, mature”).
13. Cognate with Dutch koren, German Low German Koorn, German Korn, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish korn; see also Albanian grurë, Russian зерно́ (zernó), Czech zrno, Latin grānum and Lithuanian žirnis. Doublet of grain, gram, granum, and grao.
14. The sense maize (Zea mays) is an ellipsis of Indian corn that developed in 18th century North America. See: Dutch '
koren'.