Å sette grime på grisen

Some reconstruct a Germanic *greiman-/-ōn- "film" -> "mask" -> "bridle"
from PGmc. *ghrei-m- (or less likely *ghrī-m-). Bjorvand and Lindeman
see a cognate only in Lith. <griēti> "remove the cream from the milk"
and <greimas> m. "film on milk". They reject Gk. <khrīs-> "anoint"
because the Gk. /ī/ can't easily be united with the Baltic forms nor
with all the Germanic. But others, like Watkins, do put the Gmc. and Gk.
words together. I haven't seen anyone discuss Lat. <frēnare> "pull, put
on a bridle".

Also, with a *grei- or *grī- "smear with fat or clay", No. <gris> "pig"
and its apparent cognates MHG. <grīs> "grey, old" etc. might stem from
an adjective meaning "smeared, covered in a mudfilm".

Now, pulling it a little, this Gmc. *grei- or *grī- would seem to relate
to *grind- "grind" in the same way as *stā- to *stand-, so perhaps one
might suppose an original meaning "rub, stroke". The extension could
then be continuous or intensive or something.

And, of course, behind there lurk a good handful of *gh(e)r- words.

So, eh, is this anything?

--
Trond Engen