Note 1298 — THE COMMONWEALTH 1649-1660

From the Dutch Grom, or Low Latin Gromettus, one occupied in a servile office. Gromet is at least as old as the thirteenth century and then meant a ship’s boy. Later it came to mean ordinary seamen; here it is applied to a class between ordinary seamen and boys, but probably nearer, in qualifications, to the former than the latter.