I was listening to Dan Carlin's Death Throes of the Republic and he mentioned something called the "corn dole", a piece of legislation that provided grain to the Roman Plebians. But corn, as I know it, is a New World crop. So what were the Romans referring to with the word "corn"?
It's a difference between North American and British English. In North American English, corn = maize or Indian corn. In British English, corn = grain. In this case, wheat, barley, or rye.
Corn (aka Maize) is a New World crop. In British English the word "corn" can mean any cereal grain (I believe this is actually the standard definition outside of the US). "Corn dole" in this case refers to a grain ration, though I can't speak to what type of grain. Maybe a Roman historian could speak more to the specifics of the Roman dole.