mid-13c., "a grape, a berry of the vine," also collective singular, from Old French grape "bunch of grapes, grape" (12c.), probably a back-formation from graper "steal; grasp; catch with a hook; pick (grapes)," from a Frankish or other Germanic word, from Proto-Germanic *krappon "hook," from a group of Germanic words meaning "bent, crooked, hooked" (cognates: Middle Dutch crappe, Old High German krapfo "hook;" also see cramp (n.2)). The original notion thus perhaps was "vine hook for grape-picking." The vine is not native to England. The word replaced Old English winberige "wine berry." Spanish grapa, Italian grappa also are from Germanic.
