Origin and history of grow

Old English græs, gærs "herb, plant, grass," from Proto-Germanic *grasan, which, according to Watkins, is from PIE *ghros- "young shoot, sprout," from root *ghre- "to grow, become green," thus related to grow and green, but not to Latin grāmen "grass, plant, herb." But Boutkan considers grāmen the only reliable cognate and proposes a substrate origin.

As a color name (especially grass-green, Old English græsgrene) by c. 1300. Sense of "marijuana" is recorded by 1932, American English. The grass skirt worn by people native to tropical regions is mentioned by 1874; the warning to keep off the grass by 1843 (in New York City's Central Park). Grass-fed of cattle, etc., (opposed to stall-fed) is from 1774.

Germanic cognates include Old Frisian gers "grass, turf, kind of grass," Old Norse, Old Saxon, Dutch, Old High German, German, Gothic gras, Swedish gräs "grass."

Old English weax "thick, sticky substance secreted by bees and used to build their cells," from Proto-Germanic *wahsam (source also of Old Saxon, Old High German wahs, Old Norse vax, Dutch was, German Wachs), from PIE root *wokso- "wax" (source also of Old Church Slavonic voskŭ, Lithuanian vaškas, Polish wosk, Russian vosk "wax" (but these may be from Germanic).

In early use especially as a substance to receive a seal, or as a surface on writing tablets. Used of other similar substances from 18c.

The slang sense of "gramophone record" is from 1932, American English (until the early 1940s, most original records were made by needle-etching onto a waxy disk which then was metal-plated to make a master). Wax museum "exhibition of life-size wax figures representing famous or notorious persons" is recorded by 1817 (compare waxwork).