Norwegian still translates grep as "grip"/"grab". I always thought of grepping as reaching in with a hand into the text and grabbing lines. That association is close at hand (insert lame chuckle) for German and English speakers too.
In English that association is going to depend a lot on one's accent; until now I've never associated grep-ing with anything other than using grep! (But, equally, that might just be a me thing.)
It doesn’t sound anything like grip in my accent but for some reason the association has always been there for me. Grabbing or ripping parts from the file.
