The story
- Proto-Indo-European*ǵerh₂-
- Proto-Indo-European*ǵr̥h₂-nós
- Proto-Indo-European*ǵr̥h₂nóm
- Proto-Germanic*kurną
- Proto-West Germanic*korn
- Proto-West Germanic*kurnil
- Old Englishcyrnel
- Middle Englishkirnel
- English todaykernel
From Middle English kernel, kirnel, kürnel, from Old English cyrnel, from Proto-West Germanic *kurnil, diminutive of Proto-Germanic *kurną (“seed, grain, corn”), equivalent to corn + -le. Cognate with Yiddish קערנדל (kerndl), Middle Dutch kernel, cornel, Middle High German kornel. Related also to Old Norse kjarni (“kernel”).
Words from the same roots
Proto-Germanic*kurną all →
corn
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.