Where does the term 'Grandparents' come from?

[Bex28]

My father in law asked me this one and I was stumped. Any ideas on where it comes from and/or why we call our parents parents', Grand parents?

[jno]

comes from Old French, grandame and grandsire (gmother and gfather)... its history is unclear but it seems grand once had overtones of 'fully developed' so would imply something older and wiser than just a father/mother. And great-grandparents are probably more of the same.

[Quizmonster]

As a matter of interest, the French apply the 'grand' connection only backwards. So 'grandfather' is 'grandp�re' whereas 'grandson' is 'petit fils', not 'grand-fils'. 'Petit', of course, means 'small', so clearly the 'grand' element - in both French and English - suggests 'big' in the sense of 'senior'. In other words, your grandparents are your senior parents as J suggests above.

[Bex28]

Thanks for that you guys. Never occurred to me about the French but it seems really obvious now!

:o)