English
grum
Grum comes from Middle English grom ‘a boy’, from Old English grom ‘angry, wrathful’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *gramaz.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gramaz‘angry, bearing a grudge’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150grom‘angry, wrathful’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘a boy’
- Englishearliest quotation 1836grum
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gramaz‘angry, bearing a grudge’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150grom‘angry, wrathful’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘a boy’
- Englishearliest quotation 1836grum
Earliest quotation: 1836, Joanna Baillie, The Stripling: “Look not so grum at me; there is something…”
The story
Probably influenced in form by glum.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʰrem- ‘to thunder, rub, tear, scratch’
ground, grim, groin, grunting, pogrom, 4 more
through Middle English grom ‘a boy’
Today it means
adj Morose, stern, surly, sullen.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *gramaz / grum