Etymology of 'CORN'

The English words corn and grain are linguistic doublets: both of them originate in a Proto-Indo-European word (of about 4000 B.C.E.) that may be reconstructed as grnom. This word meant 'cereal grain'. As the Indo-European languages grew apart, it took a different form in Proto-Germanic, in Latin, and in other early languages. In Proto-Germanic (about 500 B.C.E.) the form was kurnam: this became korn in Old High German and Old Norse and corn in Old English (Anglo-Saxon), and that is the immediate origin of the modern English word corn. In classical Latin, meanwhile, the form was granum. This became grano in Spanish and Italian and grain in French, meaning 'cereal grain', and the French word was borrowed into English. The French words graine (seed) and grange (barn) derive from the same Latin word.

What does corn mean? In British English it means 'cereal'—and usually it means 'wheat', the favorite cereal of Europe. When English speakers in the New World (the "Indies") encountered a cereal that was new to them, they invented a new name for it: Indian corn. In the United States, this name was eventually shortened to corn, which is why, in the United States, corn now means 'Indian corn'. Meanwhile, back in Europe, where Indian corn was soon transplanted, people came to know it under the name maize (a Carib word, transmitted by way of Spanish maiz). In South Africa it has a different name again, mealie or mielie (a word borrowed from Afrikaans and said to derive originally from Portuguese milho [millet]).

So what are Corn Flakes made from? Indian corn, of course, because they were invented and named in the United States; but British people often assume that they are made from wheat, because that is what corn means in Britain.