*aiw

*aiw¹ long time, age, eternity

Etymology tree of *aiw¹

inherited borrowed derived

Proto-Germanic *aiwaz

Proto-West Germanic *aiw

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs a noun *aiw "long time, age, eternity" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *aiwaz (“age, eternity”),^[1][2] which Kroonen cites as *aiwa/ō-, masculine or feminine, "eternity, age", and Orel as *aiwaz.^[2][3] Köbler sets up a neuter *aiwa-, *aiwam "eternity", separate from a masculine *aiwaz "law".^[4] EWA reconstructs Proto-Germanic *aiwi-, perhaps also *aiwī- and *aiwa-, the last because the Old English adverb has no umlaut.^[5] Fulk derives the Old Saxon adverb eo (“ever”) from *aiw through *ē-u, with the first vowel shortened before the second.^[6]

Morphology

In Old High German the noun is feminine, with both vowel-stem and n-stem forms, beside a masculine n-stem that EWA finds secured only in Isidor.^[5] The adverbs meaning "ever", Old High German io, Old Saxon eo and Old English ā or ō, arose from case forms of the noun, the accusative and perhaps the locative.^[5]

Evidence

EWA finds the noun mainly in North and East Germanic: its West Germanic records are rarer and are mostly adverbial phrases.^[5] Old Saxon has it only in an euun "for ever" in the Psalm fragments of the end of the 9th century,^[7][5] and Old Frisian only in tō ēwa "for ever".^[8] Old Dutch has an euuon "in eternity" in the Old Low Franconian psalms of the 10th century,^[9] and Old High German uses in ēwūn and similar phrases for "for ever, in perpetuity".^[5][10]

Meanings

1. long time, age^[1]
2. eternity^[1]

In the West Germanic languages the noun survives mainly in phrases meaning "for ever".^[5]

Derivatives

• *aiwīg "eternal", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[11] Old Saxon has ēwig, Old Dutch ēwig and Old High German ēwīg.^[12][13][14]
• *aiwiþu "eternity", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[15] Orel lists Old High German ēwida under Proto-Germanic *aiwiþō, derived from *aiwaz.^[16]

Reflexes

• Old English: ā (“ever, always”)^[17]
• Old Frisian: ēwe (“eternity”)^[8]
• Old Saxon: ēwa (“eternity”)^[7]
• Old Dutch: ēwa (“eternity”)^[9]
• Old High German: ēwa (“eternity”)^[5]

*aiw² law

Etymology tree of *aiw²

inherited borrowed derived

Proto-Germanic *aiwaz

Proto-West Germanic *aiw

Derivations · *aiw²

*aiwahaft

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *aiwi "law" for Proto-West Germanic, which became Old English ǣ through *āwi and *ǣi.^[18] Wiktionary has *aiw.^[1]

Etymology

The word for "law" is inherited from Proto-Germanic *aiwaz (“law”), which Köbler sets up as a masculine *aiwa-, *aiwaz "law" beside the neuter "eternity",^[19] while Orel puts the Gothic word for "age, eternity" and the West Germanic words for "law" under one *aiwaz.^[3] Findell takes Old Saxon ēo for a masculine from pre-Old Saxon *aiw-Ø, Proto-Germanic *aiwaz, whereas Old High German ēwa is feminine.^[20]

Morphology

The daughters differ in gender and stem class: Old English ǣ is a feminine i-stem, Old Saxon ēo a masculine wa-stem, Old Dutch ēwa a feminine n-stem, and Old High German ēwa a feminine vowel stem, with an īn-stem a few times in Alemannic glosses of the 8th and 9th centuries.^[21]

Evidence

EWA notes that the correspondences of the word are confined to West Germanic.^[21] It is attested as Old English ǣ,^[22] Old Frisian ēwe,^[8] Old Saxon ēo in the Heliand,^[23] Old Dutch ēwa in the psalms of the 10th century and in Williram's commentary of about 1100,^[9] and Old High German ēwa.^[21]

Competing analyses

EWA calls the origin of this West Germanic word disputed.^[21] It thinks the word was probably at first the same as the word for "eternity", and that only in West Germanic it took the special sense "what is eternally valid, inherited from the beginning", that is, customary law;^[21] Mincoff compared an Old Church Slavonic word for "law", properly "beginning".^[21] Wiktionary likewise calls the origin uncertain, probably the word for "long time", and compares the meaning of Latin iūs (“law”).^[1] EWA thinks a comparison with an Old Indic word for "course, custom", from the root "to go", possible but less likely, because the word would then be found only in West Germanic and Indic,^[21] and Köbler compares the word for "law" with that root.^[19] EWA rejects Seebold's derivation of both words from a root "to steer, to bind", to which Latin iūs would also belong.^[21]

Meanings

1. law^[18][1]

Old English also used the word for "scripture", "rite", "custom" and "marriage",^[22] and Old High German for "rule", "testament", "contract" and "religious custom"; the sense "marriage" is not yet found in Old High German.^[21]

Derivatives

• *aiwahaft "lawful, genuine", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[24] Old High German has ēhaft.^[21]
• *aiwasagō "lawspeaker", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[25] Old Frisian has āsega (“one who knows the law”).^[26]

Reflexes

• Old English: ǣ (“law, scripture, rite, custom, marriage”)^[22]
• Old Frisian: ēwe (“law”)^[8]
• Old Saxon: ēo (“law”)^[23]
• Old Dutch: ēwa (“law”)^[9]
• Old High German: ēwa (“law, rule, testament, contract”)^[21]