Etymology: Probably the reflex of Old English grendel , only attested as a boundary marker in charters and in place names (also as grindel , gryndel ), in uncertain sense, perhaps denoting a gravelly place or stream, probably < Old English *grand gravel, only attested as a place-name element (e.g. in Grendun , Edinburgh (c1200, now Granton), cognate with Middle Low German grant (in stēngrant (stone) gravel; German Grand gravel, chiefly regional (Low German)), Old Icelandic grand , Old Swedish grand (Swedish regional grand ), Old Danish grand , all in the sense ‘speck, grain’, and (with different stem class) Old Icelandic grandi strip of beach above the water, bank of sand or gravel, isthmus ( < an ablaut variant (o -grade) of the Germanic base of grind v.¹) + the Germanic base of -el suffix¹. Compare grindlet n.Early forms such as grindel , gryndel could be due to an ablaut variant of the base or show subsequent influence from forms of grind v.¹ Old English grendel is often attested as an element in the names of streams and other water features. The following uncompounded use with reference to Grindle Brook in Devon could reflect lexical use, but is probably rather to be interpreted as an early attestation of the name of the stream:OE Bounds (Sawyer 669) in D. Hooke Pre-Conquest Charter-bounds Devon & Cornwall (1994) 161 Þanon on þa ealdan dic on grendel, up anlang grendel on þone ealdan ford. As first element in the genitive in place names this word is difficult to distinguish from possible attestations of grendel as the name of a (hypothetical) malign nature spirit sometimes suggested to underlie the character Grendel in Beowulf. (The etymology of the name of Grendel is uncertain and disputed, but may perhaps be ultimately related.) Compare further grendles mere , Wiltshire (931), grendeles pyt , Devon (11th cent.). With later regional use in East Anglia, perhaps compare Grendelheg , Knodishall, Suffolk (1235) and Depegrendel , Rougham, Suffolk (1294). Quot. 1463 probably refers to the area called The Grindle at Bury St Edmunds, attested earlier as Le Grendyll (1399).

Etymology: Origin unknown.

Etymology: < German gründel, < grund ground n., bottom.