"Food" and "Oat": A Note on the Etymology of Gk. bromos and NE. oat

Pointing out the well-established derivation of words for 'oats' in Romance from Latin cibata, a participle of the verb cibare 'to feed, nourish', it is argued that a similar case of semantic specialization obtains in the origin of Greek & English designations for 'oats': (1) Greek bromos is related to broma 'food, fodder' & is ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *g(w)er- 'to devour'; the bormos to bromos metathesis is explained. (2) The history of oats as a nourishment of northern European populations is outlined, supporting J. Bosworth's (1898) connection between Old English ate/atan 'oats' & Old Norse at 'eating, fodder' & arguing for the semantic development from 'food' to 'grain, oats'. References. Z. Dubiel