different between quern vs querk

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

Etymology

From Middle English querken (also as querkenen), from Old Norse kvirkja (“to strangle”), from Proto-Germanic *kwirkijan?, from Proto-Germanic *kwerk? (“gullet, throat”), from Proto-Indo-European *g?erg?-, *g?erk?-, *g?erw- (“throat, neck”). Cognate with Old Frisian querka ("to strangle"; > North Frisian querke, quirke (“to querk”)), Danish kværke (“to throttle, strangle, suffocate”), Icelandic kyrkja, kvirkja (“to throttle, strangle”), Middle Low German querken (“to strangle”), Middle Low German querke, quarke (“throat, gullet”), Old High German querka, querkela (“throat, gullet”), Latin gurguli? (“throat”). More at gurgle.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kw??k/
• Rhymes: -??(r)k
• Homophone: quirk

Verb

querk (third-person singular simple present querks, present participle querking, simple past and past participle querked)

1. (transitive) To throttle; choke; stifle; suffocate.
2. (intransitive) To grunt; moan.

Related terms

• querken