Why the "grand" in grandmother? or the "great" in great grandmother? origin?

Question

Why the "grand" in grandmother? or the "great" in great grandmother? origin?

Answer 1

It's because back in the old days, elderly people were respected.

Answer 2

Grand is from the old days when your elders were respected simply due to age. To be older was to be considered GRAND becuase with age came wisdom. Great applies for the same reason but my mother told me once that it was also considered GREAT to have two set of Grandparents and thus the Great was attached to the older set because only in the last 40 have people really started living longer.