Re: CHAT: corn (was: [CHAT] Aussie terminology question)

On 10 Feb 2005, at 10.13 am, Andreas Johansson wrote:

> Quoting Henrik Theiling <theiling@...>:
>
>
>>> FWIW, in Swedish, _korn_ is barley. Barley was the dominant cereal
>>> for so long that the original specific name _bjugg_ was simply
>>> replaced by the originally general _korn_.
>>
>> Ah, and was it 'cereal' before that generalisation or was it 'grain'?
>
> Both. :p
>
> As a count noun, it always meant 'grain', as far as I know; a
> _sandkorn_ is a
> grain of sand, frex. As a mass noun, it used to mean 'cereal', but is
> now
> specifically 'barley'. No doubt, the words are ultimately the same. I
> suppose
> you could also use _korn_ as a count noun refering to a specific kind
> of
> barley, but I'd be inclined to say _kornsort_ instead.
>
> There's also _korn_ as the name of the little thingy near the muzzle
> on a
> firearm that helps you aim, which I suppose is named for looking like
> a grain,
> and a word _korn_ for the proportion of noble metal in a coin; I have
> no idea
> if this is related or just a homophone.
>
>                                                        Andreas
>
>
>
--
Tristan.