Not really sure if this is the right sub, but my breakfeast left me curious this morning... When I say Cornmeal, I am talking about an uncooked dry power made from ground corn. When I say Oatmeal, I am talking about a hot gloopy prepared breakfast dish made with oats that were not ground into a powder.

So, am I using the words wrong? Does "-meal" mean the same thing in both words? Is there some etymological distinction? It seems like "grain" "-meal" is a pretty clear pattern between the two, so if I was familiar with oats and corn, and oatmeal, I would probably expect cornmeal to look a lot like oatmeal. So, how did these two similar words come to refer to rather different substances?