quern
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L326233 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /kwɝn/ / /kwɜːn/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English quern, cwerne, from Old English cweorn (“quern, hand-mill, mill”), from Proto-Germanic *kwernō (“millstone”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷréh₂wō (“heavy stone”), from *gʷréh₂us (“heavy”). Cognate with Tocharian B kärweñe, Lithuanian girna, Russian жёрнов (žórnov, “millstone”).
- A mill for grinding corn, especially a handmill made of two circular stones.
“She is shaking in ingredients from various small bottles and querns produced from the pockets of her robes, and from the drawer in the wooden table.”
“MacKie has noted that querns that were in use in Scotland up to the present day were about 450mm—600mm in diameter and that the lower stone was completely perforated to make it adjustable (MacKie 1987, 5).”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English quern, cwerne, from Old English cweorn (“quern, hand-mill, mill”), from Proto-Germanic *kwernō (“millstone”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷréh₂wō (“heavy stone”), from *gʷréh₂us (“heavy”). Cognate with Tocharian B kärweñe, Lithuanian girna, Russian жёрнов (žórnov, “millstone”).
- To grind; to use a quern.
“He could almost set aside the longing for Eyjan that ever querned within him—almost—in this place so utterly sundered from everything of hers.”
“For women he thought these should include combing, spinning, querning, leather and fur-working and be associated with finds of beads, bracelets and perforated teeth.”