Long ago, grapes were known in England only as wineberries, a name that suggests that the clusters were not so much plucked and eaten as stomped on and fermented. At the end of the thirteenth century a new name, grape, was borrowed from the French, who had long used the word to refer not to a single grape but to a bunch of them—in other words, the Old French grape, like the Modern French grappe, meant cluster. However, even before the French used the word grape to mean cluster, they also used it to mean hook, the connection between the two meanings being that clusters of grapes were stripped from their vines by means of a grappling hook. The word grapple, in fact, arose as a diminutive of the French grape that means hook (however, the similar sounding grab, grope, and grip derive from a completely different source).
Grapes are a fruit that grow on vines, and there are many varieties of grapes that are cultivated in Europe and other parts of the world.