Trade and logistics

The third entry is o grossista, and the English word nearest to it is not « wholesaler » but « grocer ». Both come from Latin grossus, thick or coarse, which medieval trade turned into a way of counting: goods taken in grosso, in one undivided lump, as against goods broken up and sold piece by piece. Medieval Latin grossarius named the merchant who bought that way; Anglo-Norman carried the word across the Channel, and English wrote it « grosser » before settling on « grocer ». For a long time a grocer was what o grossista still is — a dealer in quantity who never served a household. Then the word slid down the very chain it was named after. It fastened on the men who brought in spices, sugar and dried fruit, then on the shop at the end of the street, and « the grocer » now names about the smallest trader English has, the exact opposite of the office the word was invented for. The old arithmetic survives in one place only: « a gross » is twelve dozen, and « to buy by the gross » is to buy the way o grossista sells.