The word grate, with reference to a particular part of jousting armour, frequently and consistently appears in lists of armourers' provisions in both Anglo-Norman and Latin contexts. At a later period, outside of these specific contexts, it appears, infrequently, in Middle English as a more general term for an article of armour. The OED and MED suggest it might be derived from the verb graten, itself derived from French gratter, 'to grate or scratch, clash'. There are no obvious cognate forms in French or Latin and as such it can be considered a Middle English loanword into Anglo-Norman. The word in French for what seems to be the same item is either grappe 1 or agrappe, the latter attested, albeit rarely, in Anglo Norman as agrape. English uses graper n. or grapper for this purpose. Anglo-Norman grape shows no sense of a term specific to armour, although its sense of a hook or bolt is surely in the same category.