"small farm," mid-15c.; mid-13c. in place names (and compare granger), from Anglo-French graunge, Old French grange "barn, granary; farmstead, farm house" (12c.), from Medieval Latin or Vulgar Latin granica "barn or shed for keeping grain," from Latin granum "grain" (see corn, n.1). Sense evolved to "outlying farm" (late 14c.), then "country house" (1550s). Meaning "local lodge of the Patrons of Husbandry" (a U.S. farmers' cooperative and agricultural interest promotion organization) is from 1867.