aiw-

Also ayu-. Vital force, life, long life, eternity; also “endowed with the acme of vital force, young.” Oldest forms *ə₂eiw-, *ə₂eyu-, colored to *ə₂aiw-, *ə₂ayu-.

Derivatives include no¹, ever, medieval, age, and eon.

1.

a. no¹, from Old Englishā, ever;

b. aught¹, from Old English āwiht, āuht, anything, “ever a creature”

c. ever; every, never, from Old English ǣfre (second element obscure), ever;

d. aye²; nay, from Old Norse ei, ever. a, c, and d all from extended Germanic form *aiwi; b from Germanic *aiwi + *wihti, “ever a thing, anything” (*wihti-, thing; see wekti-).

2.

a. Suffixed form *aiw-o-. coeval, longevity, medieval, primeval, from Latin aevum, age, eternity;

b. further suffixed form *aiwo-tā(ti)-. age; coetaneous, from Latin aetās (stem aetāti-), age;

c. further suffixed form *aiwo-t-erno-. eternal, eterne, eternity; sempiternal, from Latin aeternus, eternal.

3. Suffixed form *aiw-en-. eon, from Greek aiōn, age, vital force.

4. Zero-grade form *yu- (earlier *əyu-) in compound *əyu-gʷiə-es-, “having a vigorous life” (*gʷiə-es-, life; see gʷei-). hygiene, from Greek hugiēs, healthy.

5. O-grade form *oyu- (earlier *əoyu-).

a. utopia, from Greek ou, not, variant of ouk, probably from a pre-Greek phrase *(ne) oyu (kʷid), “(not on your) life” (ne, not, and *kʷid, indefinite pronoun used as emphasizing particle; see ne and kʷo-);

b. Ayurveda, from Sanskrit āyuḥ, life, health, from suffixed form *oyu-s-.

 

[Pokorny aiu̯- 17.] See also derivative yeu-.

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