quern

Etymology

From Middle English quern, cwerne, from Old English cweorn (“quern, hand-mill, mill”), from Proto-Germanic *kwernō (“millstone”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷréh₂wō (“heavy stone”), from *gʷréh₂us (“heavy”). Cognate with Tocharian B kärweñe and Lithuanian girna.

noun

1. A mill for grinding corn, especially a handmill made of two circular stones.
   She is shaking in ingredients from various small bottles and querns produced from the pockets of her robes, and from the drawer in the wooden table. 1978, Robert Nye, Merlin
   MacKie has noted that querns that were in use in Scotland up to the present day were about 450mm—600mm in diameter and that the lower stone was completely perforated to make it adjustable (MacKie 1987, 5). 2005, Anne Crone, Ewan Campbell, A Crannog of the First Millennium, AD: Excavations by Jack Scott at Loch Gloshan, Argyll, 1960, page 100
   Not surprisingly, different cultures discovered the suitability of various rock types for manufacturing querns and millstones. 2009, Charles D. Hockensmith, The Millstone Industry, page 212

verb

1. (transitive) To grind; to use a quern.
   He could almost set aside the longing for Eyjan that ever querned within him—almost—in this place so utterly sundered from everything of hers. 1979, Poul Anderson, The Merman's Children, published 2011, unnumbered page
   For women he thought these should include combing, spinning, querning, leather and fur-working and be associated with finds of beads, bracelets and perforated teeth. 2000, Tina Tuohy, “9: Long Handled Weaving Combs: Problems Determining the Gender of Tool-Maker and Tool-User”, in Moira Donald, Linda Hurcombe, editors, Gender and Material Culture in Archaeological Perspective, page 141
   Beyond this now lay only chaos and a querning sea. Time's millstones, grinding bones for bread. 2009, Greer Gilman, Unleaving: Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales, page 262
   From the osteology, a supposed link between squatting facets and prehistoric women—and by extension the interpretation that women were engaged in querning activity—is not demonstrated for the Iron Age: of the thirteen with the complaint in Deal, Kent, 62 per cent were male (Anderson 1995: table 29). 2011, Rachel Pope, Ian Ralston, “17: Approaching Sex and Status in Iron Age Britain with Reference to the Nearer Continent”, in Tom Moore, Thomas Hugh Moore, X. L. Armada, editors, Atlantic Europe in the First Millennium BC: Crossing the Divide, page 401