Quern - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

QUERN, the primitive form of hand-mill for grinding corn, consisting of two flat circular stones; the lower stone, often shaped with a rim; has a wooden or metal pin in the centre which passes through a hole in the upper stone; the worker pours the grain through the hole with one hand, revolving the upper stone with the other by means of a peg fixed to one side. The Old English word is cweorn; it is a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Du. kweern, Swed. qvarn and various forms in Old German; cognate words are found in Slavonic languages pointing to a pre-Aryan root. It is not related to "churn." (See FLOUR.)