The Etymology of Grommet
Grommet started life on horseback. In medieval and early modern France, a gourmette was the small chain that ran under a horse's jaw, attached to the bit and used to control the animal's head. English sailors borrowed the word in the 1620s for any reinforcing ring of rope sewn onto a sail or wrapped around a spar — the visual link is the small closed loop. From rope rings the word migrated to metal: punched into canvas tents, leather belts, and ship rigging, then later into rubber bushings that protect electrical wires passing through metal panels. By the 20th century grommet was a workshop staple in three industries (sailmaking, shoemaking, electronics). Surfers added a fourth meaning in the 1960s — a young, beginner surfer — by reaching back to the obsolete nautical sense of grommet as a ship's boy. The same French gourmette today simply means an identity bracelet.