Etymograph

English

graupel

Graupel comes from German Graupe ‘hulled grain’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *krewp-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krewp-root as named · steps between not traced
  2. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350grūpe
  3. Germanc. 1650–presentGraupe‘hulled grain’
  4. German, derivedc. 1650–presentGraupel(wetter)literally ‘graupel (weather)’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1873graupel

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krewp-root as named · steps between not traced
  2. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350grūpe
  3. Germanc. 1650–presentGraupe‘hulled grain’
  4. German, derivedc. 1650–presentGraupel(wetter)literally ‘graupel (weather)’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1873graupel

Earliest quotation: 1873, The Leipzig Conference: “Is it desirable in giving the falls of hail…”

The story

Borrowed from German Graupel(wetter) (literally “graupel (weather)”). Graupel is a back-formation from graupeln (‘to hail (with soft hailstones)’) + -el (diminutive suffix); and graupeln is from Graupe (‘hulled grain, pearl barley’) (ultimately from Proto-Slavic *krūpà (‘grainy substance; groats; hail’) and Proto-Indo-European *krewp-) + -eln (suffix forming verbs, often with a diminutive or frequentative sense).

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *krewp-

Today it means

noun A precipitation that forms when supercooled droplets of water condense on a snowflake.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *krewp- / graupel

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