Etymology

ash

A1S1H4

Today it means: The solid remains of a fire. Full definition →

Middle English asche ← Old English æsce ← Proto-West Germanic *askā
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ash · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂eHs-der.?
  2. Proto-Germanic*askǭ
  3. Proto-West Germanic*askā
  4. Old Englishæsce
  5. Middle Englishasche
  6. English todayash

Inherited from Middle English asche, asshe, aske, from Old English acse, asċe, axe, axse, æsċe, from Proto-West Germanic *askā, from Proto-Germanic *askǭ (“ash”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs- (“to be dry; to burn; hearth; ashes”). Cognates Cognate with Yola ashen, oaskean (“ashes”), Saterland Frisian Ääske (“ash”), West Frisian jiske (“ash”), Alemannic German Äsche (“ash”), Cimbrian èssa (“ash”), Dutch as, asch (“ash”), German Asche (“ash”), Limburgish Aïsch, Aïsche, Äsch (“ash; grayling”), Luxembourgish Äsch (“ash”), Vilamovian oś, oš (“ash”), Yiddish אַש (ash, “ash”), Danish aske (“ash”), Faroese øska (“ash, ashes”), Icelandic and Swedish aska (“ash”), Norwegian Bokmål aske (“ash”), Norwegian Nynorsk oske (“ash”), Gothic 𐌰𐌶𐌲𐍉 (azgō, “ash; cinder”); Breton and Cornish ster (“stars”), Welsh sêr (“stars”), Latin āreō (“to be dry or parched; to be dried up or withered”), Greek αστέρας (astéras), αστέρι (astéri), άστρο (ástro, “star”), Armenian աստուճ (astuč), աշտուճ (aštuč, “dry (of bread)”), Avestan 𐬯𐬙𐬀𐬭 (star, “star”), Baluchi استار (astár / istár), استال (istál, “star”), Central Kurdish ئەستێرە (estêre, “star”), Northern Kurdish stêr (“star”), Ossetian стъалы (st’aly, “star”), Pashto ستوری (stóray, “star”), Persian سِتَارَه (setāra / sitâre, “star; destiny, fate; spark”), Hittite 𒄩𒀸𒊭𒀀𒀸 (ḫa-aš-ša-a-aš, “fireplace, hearth”), Ashkun istã́ (“star”), Tocharian A āştär (“pure”), Tocharian B astare (“pure”), Sanskrit आस (āsa, “ashes; dust”). The dialectal plural axen is from Middle English axen, axnen, from Old English axan, asċan (“ashes”) (plural of Old English axe, æsċe (“ash”)).

ash · noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*Heh₃s-
  2. Proto-Germanic*askaz
  3. Proto-West Germanic*ask
  4. Old Englishæsċ
  5. Middle Englishasch
  6. English todayash

From Middle English asch, asche, assh, from Old English æsċ, from Proto-West Germanic *ask, from Proto-Germanic *askaz (“ash”), from Proto-Indo-European *Heh₃s- (“ash”). The "ligature" sense is a semantic loan from Old English æsċ, whence also the synonymous doublet æsc. Cognates Cognate with Scots aish (“ash”), North Frisian eskebuum (“ash”), West Frisian esk (“ash”), Cimbrian ess (“ash”), Dutch es (“ash”), German Esche (“ash”), Limburgish èsj (“ash”), Luxembourgish Esch (“ash”), Yiddish אַשבוים (ashboym, “ash”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish ask (“ash”), Faroese ask, askur (“ash”), Icelandic askur (“ash”); also Welsh onn, ynn (“ash”), Latin ornus (“rowan”), Greek οξιά (oxiá, “beech; wood”), Albanian ah (“beech”), Latgalian ūss (“ash”), Latvian osis (“ash”), Lithuanian uosis (“ash”), Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian я́сень (jásenʹ, “ash”), Bulgarian я́сен (jásen, “ash”), Czech jasan (“ash”), Macedonian јасен (jasen, “ash”), Polish jasion, jesion (“ash”), Serbo-Croatian ја̏се̄н, jȁsēn (“ash”), Slovak jaseň (“ash”), Slovene jésen (“ash”), Armenian հացի (hacʻi, “ash”).

ash · noun3

Transliteration of Persian آش.

ash · adverb4

Abbreviation.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*h₂eHs- all →

asteriskarentazaleaasadoapastronastrognosy

Middle Englishaxen all →

ax

Old Englishæsċ all →

dashAshlandAshcroftAshbyAshworthAshmoreAshdownAshburyAshbourneashwoodAshurstAxfordæscAshcottAshdonAshtree

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.