The Etymology of Grocery
Grocery stores have nothing to do with growing things. The word traces to Late Latin grossus ('thick, coarse, large'), which produced the Old French term for wholesale trading: grosserie. A grossier was a merchant who dealt en gros — in large quantities — and the English form 'grocer' appeared in the fourteenth century specifically for wholesale spice dealers. The Worshipful Company of Grocers, chartered in London in the 1340s, dealt in pepper, cinnamon, ginger, and other spices imported in bulk from Asia. 'Grocery' followed in the fifteenth century, referring to the grocer's trade and stock. The shift from wholesale spice dealing to retail food selling happened gradually between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. As the spice trade democratised and grocers diversified their stock, the word expanded to cover all manner of food and household goods. By the time the modern supermarket appeared in the 1930s, 'groceries' had long meant simply 'food shopping.' The connection to 'gross' (twelve dozen, or 144) is genuine — both descend from the same Latin word for large quantities.