The word 'grocer' comes from 'gross'. But which sense(s) of 'gross'? Only a nonspecific large amount, or also, to any degree, exactly 144?

Question

https://erik-engheim.medium.com/teaching-kids-about-alternative-number-bases-36e3cc464250 has:
'People who do any kind of packaging have learned early that basing units on 12 makes sense. It is easier to pack that way, which is why things historically have been sold by the dozen. A grocer is simply somebody who sells goods by the gross.'
Has it been ruled out completely that 'grocer' comes in part from 'gross' meaning 144?
https://www.etymonline.com/word/grocer has:
early 15c. (mid-13c. as a surname), "wholesale dealer, one who buys and sells in gross," corrupted spelling of Anglo-French grosser, Old French grossier, from Medieval Latin grossarius "wholesaler," literally "dealer in quantity" (source also of Spanish grosero, Italian grossista), from Late Latin grossus "coarse (of food), great, gross" (see gross (adj.)). Sense of "a merchant selling individual items of food" is 16c.; in Middle English this was a spicer.
No ruling out there of the senses of 'gross' meaning disgusting, nor  '144'.

Joe Maxwell · Answer

The excerpt from the website about different bases of counting makes no sense. They have a completely baseless claim. Why does it make sense to sell by the dozen? Why not tens? Fives? It's a bit of a silly claim when you take it alone, and I'd suggest you don't put too much stock into it.
Don't forget that gross can also mean unmitigated in anyway. As in gross tonnage or gross profit. This usage is more in line with the etymology of a modern grocer.
Compare this usage with your found definition of "dealer in quantity" and the parallels start to line up. You should also consider that this would be juxtaposed with the only other ways to get food:

Grow it yourself
Purchase it from someone who has already prepared it (decidedly not wholesale).

So given the alternative modern usages, and the alternatives to acquiring food in the times the word arose, you can see the link. I don't know how you'd find definitive proof that "grocer" is not linked to "gross = 144" in any other way than accepting the etymology research you have done.

The word 'grocer' comes from 'gross'. But which sense(s) of 'gross'? Only a nonspecific large amount, or also, to any degree, exactly 144?

One Answer

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question