Old English cweorn "hand-mill, mill," from PIE *gwere-na- "millstone" (cognates: Old Norse kvern, Old Frisian quern, Old High German quirn, Gothic quirnus; Sanskrit grava "crushing stone;" Lithuanian girna "millstone," girnos "hand mills;" Old Church Slavonic zrunuvi "mills;" Welsh brevan "hand mill"), suffixed form of root *gwere- (2) "heavy" (see grave (adj.)).