gro

adj., n.

?'angry, sorrowful; horror' (Modern English )

Etymology

At issue here is the indentification of this word at WA 3238 ('With grym gretyng & gro & grysely teyrs') in the D MS, which is either interpreted as a genuine variant or emended following the A MS. (1) MED and Skeat WA both cautiously entertain the possibility of maintaining the MS reading. Skeat WA interprets the instance in WA as a n., comparing Dan gru 'horror'. In fact the Dan word probably derives from a loan from a v. borrowed from MHG (see Nielsen s.v.v. gru, grue II). MED more plausibly suggests indentification with ME gra, securely derived (on both phonological and semantic criteria) from ON, cp. OIcel grár 'grey; spiteful, malicious' (< PGmc *grēwa-, cp. OE grǣg, OFris grē, MDu grau, OS grāu, OHG grāo). It is otherwise known only from the Katherine Group, in which it occurs only as a sb. Here it must either be interpreted as an adj. with a sense derived from the n. such as 'angry, sorrowful', or, preferably in the context of the line, as a n. in a plausibly extended, but otherwise unattested, sense. (2) More likely is TPD's emendation (also proposed by Skeat WA) to *grone following the A MS. It makes better sense of the line, and grane 'groan' does appear as a v. and n. elsewhere in the poem, and is of straight forward native derivation.

PGmc Ancestor

(1) *grēwa-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

(1) grár 'grey; spiteful, malicious'
(ONP (1) grár (adj.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

(1) Far gráur, Icel grár, Norw grå, Dan grå, OSw grā, Sw grå

OE Cognate

(1)  grǣg 'grey'

Phonological and morphological markers

[ON /ɑ:/ < PGmc */e:/ (1)] (may not be applicable)

Summary category

DD2

Attestation

(1) This would be the only instance of an adj., as interpreted by MED; the n. form is attested from the Katherine Group only. (2) Common and widespread.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

WA 3228

The D MS of WA has a variant reading grone 'groaning' at 3238, which TPD print in their edition, regarding A MS gro as a likely error (3366n) and Skeat WA also allows that this is a possibility.

Bibliography

MED grō (adj. & n.) , OED gro (n.) , Bj. 89, de Vries grár, Mag. grár, Orel *ʒrēwa-, Kroonen *grēwa-