The edible grains or seeds from certain types of grasses, which are rich in carbohydrates and provide essential nutrients like fiber, vitamins, and minerals, are what we call cereals. This category includes barley, corn (maize), millet, oats, rice, rye, and wheat.
The word is a Latin term, Cerealis, meaning “relating to the Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres“. She was named after her primary function, which was to encourage plants to grow, in Latin crēscō.
Corn, the Mexican
Europe is divided in this issue: West zone where maize is called Maiz and East zone, Kukuruz. Both terms have fascinating and diverse etymologies.
Zea mays, maize, or corn was first domesticated in Mexico around 9,000 years ago. It only reached Europe approximately 600 years ago, following the Columbian exchange. To name this new spiece the Spanish adopted the Taíno word mahis, which then spread to Italy and other parts of Europe. In Brazil, Portuguese did it too, with the Tupi term abati.
Across Europe, maize often received names that followed a common pattern: a generic cereal term combined with a foreign ethnonym. For example, Italian grano turco and German Türkischer Korn both mean “Turkish grain,” reflecting the crop’s route into Europe through the Ottoman Empire. In other regions, it was linked to another country: Turkish mısır and Armenian եգիպտացորեն (egiptacoren) refer to Egypt.
In many cases, maize was linguistically assimilated to Old World cereals. In Portuguese, milho originally referred to millet and comes from Latin milium. Similarly, in several Northern Italian dialects, the Latin word frumentum (meaning “grain”) was repurposed to refer to corn.
Perhaps the most intriguing and mysterious term is kukuruz, which spread widely across Eastern Europe with little variation in form or pronunciation. Its origin is uncertain. As far as we can know, the word appeared in Serbo-Croatian, but its deeper roots remain unclear. It may not be originally Slavic. Some theories suggest it derives from Ottoman Turkish قوقوروز (kukuruz), possibly borrowed from Albanian kokërrëz (a diminutive of grain or kernel) or from Proto-Slavic kurъ (“cock”).
Rice, the Chinese
Rice was first cultivated in the Far East as early as 10,000 years ago. From there, rice cultivation gradually spread westward. This movement is mirrored by the journey of the word for rice across languages. In English, the word rice comes from Old French ris, which was borrowed from Old Italian riso. That, in turn, derives from Byzantine Greek ὄρυζα (óruza).
Interestingly, not all languages followed this etymological path. Some languages — notably Turkish pirinç, and Georgian ბრინჯი (brinǯi) — derive their word for rice from a different Persian root. Despite these surface differences, both major linguistic branches ultimately stem from the same origin: Old Persian vrinjiš.
Yet not all terms for rice derive from Persian. In several Turkic languages, a completely different etymology is found, Proto-Turkic düg that means “to pound” — likely referring to pounded or husked grains rather than rice specifically.
Wheat, the white
If you’ve ever confused “wheat” with “white,” or even if you haven’t but thought they seemed strangely similar, you’re not entirely wrong. The word “wheat” traces its origin back to the Proto-Germanic *hwītijaną, derived from *hwītaz, meaning “white.” This likely refers to the light color of wheat compared to other grains. This Germanic root is found in several Germanic languages (excluding Dutch) and was also adopted by their Lithuanian neighbors. The Latvian word is a cognate, that traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱweyt-, meaning “to shine.”
Another significant family of languages, the Turkic languages, carried the word boguday from the eastern steppes all the way to the west. As the Turkic-speaking peoples expanded their influence across vast territories, they brought not only their customs and traditions but also their language. This migration of language and culture is evident in the Hungarian word búza, which is derived from it.
From grain to flour
Slaves also share an ancient root for the word “wheat,” pьšenica, which originates from pьšeno, meaning “millet.” This term can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root peys, meaning “to grind,” a reference to the common practice of crushing cereal grains into flour. Similarly, the Celtic languages derive their word for wheat from a different process, winnowing, reflected in the term nixtos “winnowed.” If you look further south on the map, you’ll notice that the Latin term triticum, which is also the scientific name for wheat, comes from the verb terō, meaning “grazing or grinding.
In addition to triticum, there are three other Latin terms associated with wheat: frumentum, granum, and bladum, making the etymology map of wheat particularly intricate. The word frumentum also originates from a verb, fruor, meaning “to enjoy,” which is the same root that gave rise to the word “fruit.” Granum is straightforward to recognize, as it directly translates to “grain” and as we saw it is also connected to the concept of “corn.” Finally, bladum, over the centuries, it underwent significant semantic changes: it was borrowed from Frankish, originally referred to “field produce,” it stems from the Proto-Germanic blēduz, “flower, leaf, blossom.”
