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Origin and history of gray

gray(adj.)

"of a color between white and black; having little or no color or luminosity," Old English græg "gray" (Mercian grei), from Proto-Germanic *grewa- "gray" (source also of Old Norse grar, Old Frisian gre, Middle Dutch gra, Dutch graw, Old High German grao, German grau), with no certain connections outside Germanic. French gris, Spanish gris, Italian grigio, Medieval Latin griseus are Germanic loan-words. The spelling distinction between British grey and U.S. gray developed 20c. Expression the gray mare is the better horse in reference to households ruled by wives is recorded from 1540s.

gray(n.)

c. 1200, from gray (adj.). Gray as figurative for "Southern troops in the U.S. Civil War" is first recorded 1863, in reference to their uniform color.

gray(v.)

"become gray, wither," 1610s (with an isolated instance from late 14c.), from gray (adj.). Related: Grayed; graying.

also from 1610s

Entries linking to gray

ambergris(n.)

early 15c., from Old French ambre gris "gray amber," "a wax-like substance of ashy colour, found floating in tropical seas, a morbid secretion from the intestines of the sperm-whale. Used in perfumery, and formerly in cookery" [OED], via Medieval Latin from Arabic 'anbar (see amber).

Its origin was known to Constantinus Africanus (obit c. 1087), but it was a mystery in Samuel Johnson's day, and he records nine different theories; "What sort of thing is Ambergrease?" was a type of a puzzling question beyond conjecture. King Charles II's favorite dish was said to be eggs and ambergris [Macauley, "History of England"].

PUT on your silks ; and piece by piece
Give them the scent of Amber-Greece :
[Herrick, "To His Mistresses"] 
Praise is like ambergris; a little whiff of it, by snatches, is very agreeable; but when a man holds a whole lump of it to his nose, it is a stink and strikes you down. [Pope, c. 1720]

French gris is from Frankish *gris or some other Germanic source (cognates: Dutch grijs, Old High German gris; see gray (adj.)).

graybeard(n.)

also greybeard, "old man," 1570s, from gray (adj.) + beard (n.). Middle English had gray-hair (n.) "old man" (late 15c.), and simple gray in this sense is from late 14c.

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grizzled
"gray in color," late 14c., griseld, a past-participle adjective formation from the noun grizzle "gray-haired old man" (early 14c. as a surname, Grissel); see grizzle (adj.). Or else from Old French grisel "gray," diminutive of gris "gray," from a Frankish or other Germanic sourc
hoar
Old English har "hoary, gray, venerable, old," the connecting notion being gray hair, from Proto-Germanic *haira (source also of Old Norse harr "gray-haired, old," Old Saxon, Old High German her "distinguished, noble, glorious," German hehr), from PIE *kei- (2), source of color a
hare
Middle Dutch haese, Dutch haas, Old High German haso, German Hase), of uncertain origin; possibly the original sense was "gray..." (compare Old English hasu, Old High German hasan "gray"), from PIE *khas- "gray" (source also of Latin canus "white, gray..., gray-haired")....
glaucous
"dull bluish-green, gray," 1670s, from Latin glaucus "bright, sparkling, gleaming," also "bluish-green," from Greek glaukos...(apparently without a color connotation); used by later writers with a sense of "greenish" (of olive leaves) and "blue, gray...Homer's glauk-opis Athene probably originally was a "bright-eyed," not a "gray-eyed" goddess....Middle English had glauk "bluish-green, gray" (early 15c.)....
dappled
Or perhaps a back-formation from, or merger with, Middle English adjective dapple-gray "apple-gray" (late 14c.), used first...of a horse, based on resemblance to the markings on an apple (compare Old Norse apalgrar "dapple-gray")....Also, for origin of the sense, compare Middle English shimed (mid-15c.), of a horse, "dappled, dapple-gray," etymologically...
beige
1858, "fine woolen fabric," from dialectal French beige "yellowish-gray, brownish-gray," from Old French bege "the natural...
sallow
dirty"), from Proto-Germanic *salwa- (source also of Middle Dutch salu "discolored, dirty," Old High German salo "dirty gray...," Old Norse sölr "dirty yellow"), from PIE root *sal- (2) "dirty, gray" (source also of Old Church Slavonic slavojocije...
mount
c. 1300, mounten, "to get up on a horse;" mid-14c., "to rise up, rise in amount, ascend; fly," from Old French monter "to go up, ascend, climb, mount," from Vulgar Latin *montare, from Latin mons (genitive montis) "mountain" (from PIE root *men- (2) "to project"). The transitive
habiliment
often habiliments, early 15c., ablement, "munitions, weapons," from Old French habillement, abillement, from abiller "prepare or fit out," probably from abile, habile "fit, suitable," from Latin habilem, habilis "easily handled, apt," verbal adjective from habere "to hold" (from
ware
"manufactured goods, goods for sale," Old English waru "article of merchandise," also "protection, guard," hence probably originally "object of care, that which is kept in custody," from Proto-Germanic *waro (source also of Swedish vara, Danish vare, Old Frisian were, Middle Dutc

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