From the paper:

How would I hear it through the grapevine?
The origin of the phrase goes back to the mid-1840s when the telegraph system was getting its start in the U.S. Some companies were in such a hurry to put up their telegraph lines that they cut corners. Bad workmanship, which in some cases included hanging the lines from tree branches rather than poles, supposedly led to tangled, coiled messes resembling wild grapevines.

Interesting...I just heard the song today, in fact.

In trying to find a little about the etymology of "grape," I found that in Latin uvola means "small bunch of grapes," and therefore the word uvula dervives from the Latin word uvola since the organ resembles small grapes.

Personally, I think the uvula looks like a grape seed. I never thought it looked like a bunch of grapes. (Did I just not look closely enough? )

I was wondering about that, too, Myth. I've looked at my kids' throats a lot, and the uvula surely doesn't look like any bunch of grapes I've seen.

Off on a tangent here (what's new!): Why do we in English call the fruit "grape," and in its dried state, "raisin," when in French "raisin" is a fresh grape? Seems unraisinable to me!

A long ago housemate used to work for the now defunct Will Vinton Productions, the animation company that produced the famous California Raisins commercial, wherein they used the song to which Kalleh refers. My housemate was the artist who built the raisin in the middle. After the filming, he got to keep the original model. Yes, folks, I used to live with a "grapeist!"

Maybe it was difficult in the Middle Ages to transport fresh grapes from areas like France, so they dried them first?

It's a twisty turny etymology. In French, grappe de raisin means 'a bunch of grapes', while raisins secs are 'raisins'. In the chat today somebody asked what the difference between raisins and currants. To me, they are two different dried fruits, but I see an older meaning of currant is 'a dried Zante grape'. For me, currants are not grapes but red currants. And black currants are black currants. Aside, in French grappe de serveurs means 'a computer cluster'. In Italian, grappa is a kind of brandy made from grape pumice. A grappling hook is from French grapil 'little grape' used to simply mean 'hook'. French grappe is also a botanical term meaning 'raceme'. Raisin is from VL *racima 'a bunch (of grapes)'.

Any idea what "racemic" the chemistry term (meaning optically inactive) came from? Does grape juice contain equal parts right-handed and left-handed sugar?

Here's what I found in the OED, neveu:

f. as prec., ad. F. (acide) racémique (printed racenique) (J. L. Gay-Lussac Cours de Chimie (1828) XXIV. 23).]

Hello from my very slow dial-up & antique laptop at Cape Cod...

Back to grapes and raisins if you don't mind...

I love "etymonline.com" for this sort of thing. Gives you more in-between steps, & goes back further. For example, "raisin" was "raycin" in Anglo-French (1278), once "racimus (V.L.)/ racemus(L.)" as zmj said, which meant 'cluster of grapes or berries'; they add that the Greek word "rhagos" meaning grape or berry is, like racemus, from some 'lost old Meditarranean language.'

"Grape" is a form of an Old French verb "graper", meaning to pick grapes, and is related to Frankish "krappen" and Old H.German "krapfo" meaning hook; the original concept was a vine-hook for grape-picking. You can see how the word "grapple" is also related; as zmj said, "grapil" in Old French is a little hook.

Looks like somewhere along the line, English picked up part of the phrase-- the 'grasp/ grab/ hook' part, instead of the 'raisin' or actual fruit part.