different between quern vs quean

English

Alternative forms

• curn, kern, quirn

Etymology

From Middle English quern, cwerne, from Old English cweorn (“quern, hand-mill, mill”), from Proto-Germanic *kwern? (“millstone”), from Proto-Indo-European *g?réh?w? (“heavy stone”), from *g?réh?us (“heavy”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kw?n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kw??n/
• Rhymes: -??(?)n

Noun

quern (plural querns)

1. A mill for grinding corn, especially a hand-mill made of two circular stones.
   • 2005, Anne Crone, Ewan Campbell, A Crannog of the First Millennium, AD: Excavations by Jack Scott at Loch Gloshan, Argyll, 1960, page 100,

     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).

   • 2009, Charles D. Hockensmith, The Millstone Industry, page 212,

     Not surprisingly, different cultures discovered the suitability of various rock types for manufacturing querns and millstones.

Derived terms

• beehive quern
• quernstone
• saddle quern

Translations

Verb

quern (third-person singular simple present querns, present participle querning, simple past and past participle querned)

1. (transitive) To grind; to use a quern.
   • 1979, Poul Anderson, The Merman's Children, 2011, unnumbered page,

     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.

   • 2000, Tina Tuohy, 9: Long Handled Weaving Combs: Problems Determining the Gender of Tool-Maker and Tool-User, Moira Donald, Linda Hurcombe (editors), Gender and Material Culture in Archaeological Perspective, page 141,

     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.

   • 2009, Greer Gilman, Unleaving, Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales, page 262,

     Beyond this now lay only chaos and a querning sea. Time's millstones, grinding bones for bread.

   • 2011, Rachel Pope, Ian Ralston, 17: Approaching Sex and Status in Iron Age Britain with Reference to the Nearer Continent, Tom Moore, Thomas Hugh Moore, X. L. Armada (editors), Atlantic Europe in the First Millennium BC: Crossing the Divide, page 401,

     From the osteology, a supposed link between squatting facets and prehistoric women—and by extension the interpretation that women were engaged in querning activity—is not demonstrated for the Iron Age: of the thirteen with the complaint in Deal, Kent, 62 per cent were male (Anderson 1995: table 29).

See also

• quirn

Middle English

Alternative forms

• querne, queerne, cwerne, quyerne, quyrne, qwerne, whern, qweryn, qwhern

Etymology

From Old English cweorn, from Proto-Germanic *kwern?, from Proto-Indo-European *g?réh?w? (“heavy stone”), from *g?réh?us (“heavy”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kw?rn/, /kwe?rn/

Noun

quern (plural quernes)

1. A quern or quirn; a device for grinding grains.
2. A stone forming part of a quern.

Derived terms

• pepyrquerne

Descendants

• English: quern, kern, curn, quirn
• Scots: querne, quern, queirn, queern
• Yola: querne

References

• “qu???rn(e, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-10.

English

Alternative forms

• quene (obsolete)
• queane (obsolete)
• quine (Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English quene (“young, robust woman”), from Old English cwene (“woman, female serf”), from Proto-Germanic *kwen? (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *g??n (“woman”). Cognate with Dutch kween (“a barren woman, a barren cow”), Low German quene (“barren cow, heifer”), German Kon (“wife”), Swedish kvinna (“woman”), Icelandic kona (“woman”), Gothic ???????????????? (qin?, “woman”), ???????????????? (q?ns, “wife”). More at queen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwi?n/
• Homophone: queen

Noun

quean (plural queans)

1. A woman, now especially an impudent or disreputable woman; a prostitute. [from 10th c.]
   • 1936: Like the Phoenix by Anthony Bertram

     However, terrible as it may seem to the tall maiden sisters of J.P.'s in Queen Anne houses with walled vegetable gardens, this courtesan, strumpet, harlot, whore, punk, fille de joie, street-walker, this trollop, this trull, this baggage, this hussy, this drab, skit, rig, quean, mopsy, demirep, demimondaine, this wanton, this fornicatress, this doxy, this concubine, this frail sister, this poor Queenie--did actually solicit me, did actually say 'coming home to-night, dearie' and my soul was not blasted enough to call a policeman.

2. (Scotland) A young woman, a girl; a daughter. [from 15th c.]
   • 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song, Polygon 2006 (A Scots Quair), p. 30:

     Forbye the two queans there was the son, John Gordon, as coarse a devil as you'd meet, he'd already had two-three queans in trouble and him but barely eighteen years old.

Derived terms

• cuckquean

Anagrams

• quena

Scots

Alternative forms

• quine (Doric)

Etymology

From Old English cwene, from Proto-Germanic *kwen? (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *g??n (“woman”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwin/, /kwen/, /kw?in/

Noun

quean (plural queans)

1. young woman, girl
2. daughter
3. maidservant
4. female sweetheart
5. (Shetland) A ram incapable of procreation, a hermaphrodite sheep.