You don't even need to go back to old english: per your source, definition 1 under english etymology 1 is: (chiefly Britain, uncountable) Any cereal plant grow

You don't even need to go back to old english: per your source, definition 1 under english etymology 1 is: (chiefly Britain, uncountable) Any cereal plant grown for its grain, or the grain thereof. edit: but yes, in the context of discussing a poem from the 12th century, old English would make more sense :) Interesting that the translation is from the french ble , which I would intuitively associate with the modern french blé meaning[1] wheat [1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bl%C3%A9 https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bl%C3%A9