iw

Old English

Alternative forms

• ēow, ēoh

Etymology

Proto-Germanic *īwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *eiwo-, a suffixed form of the base *ei- ‘reddish, colourful’. Cognate with Old High German īwa (German Eibe), Middle Low German īwe (Dutch ijf), Old Norse ýr (“bow, yew”). The Indo-European root is perhaps also the source of Old Irish ēo (Irish iúr), Baltic *eiwa- (Lithuanian ievà), Slavic *jiva (Russian ива ‘willow’), Latin ūva ‘bunch of grapes’.

The West Germanic languages have a variant *īhwaz with a guttural consonant, represented by Old English ēoh.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /iːw/

Noun

īw m

1. yew (tree)

Declension

    Declension of iw (strong a-stem)

	Singular	Plural
nominative	īw	īwas
accusative	īw	īwas
genitive	īwes	īwa
dative	īwe	īwum