Etymograph

English

grobian

Grobian comes from German Grobian ‘brute’, from grob ‘coarse, rough’, and ultimately from Old High German grob.

  1. Old High Germanc. 750–1050grob‘coarse’
  2. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350same form
  3. Germanc. 1650–presentsame form‘coarse, rough’
  4. German, derivedc. 1650–presentGrobianus
  5. German, derivedc. 1650–presentGrobian‘brute’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1892grobian

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Old High Germanc. 750–1050grob‘coarse’
  2. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350same form
  3. Germanc. 1650–presentsame form‘coarse, rough’
  4. German, derivedc. 1650–presentGrobianus
  5. German, derivedc. 1650–presentGrobian‘brute’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1892grobian

Earliest quotation: 1892, Andrew Lang, The Library: “[B]eware of men who love not fly leaves neither…”

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *hreubaz ‘rough, crusty, scabby’

reef, gruff, orf

Today it means

noun A coarse, uncouth, uncivilized and possibly violent fellow.

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

Etymograph / Old High German grob / grobian

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