This is to be the more regretted as its etymology is very obscure.

It may, however, be traced with little doubt to the old Norse 'grein,' a branch or prong, surviving in the word 'grains,' a pronged harpoon or fish spear.

From its meaning, 'branch,' it might seem to be akin to 'stem' and to 'bow,' which is only another spelling of'bough.' But this is not likely.

The older meaning of 'bows' was 'shoulders,' and this, it is agreed, is how it became applied to the head of a ship.

There is, however, a secondary and more widely used sense of 'grain,' which means the space between forking boughs, and so almost any angular space, like a meadow where two rivers converge.