20 December 2016

ÉWEND or ÉVIND ~ eve, evening

"Vismarkt bij avond" (fish-market in the evening)
by Egbert Lievensz. van der Poel, ca.1650 (crop)
Modern languages:
eve, evening - English
avond - Dutch
Abend - German
aand - Afrikaans
aften - Danish
afton (or: kväll) - Swedish
(kveld - Norse)
(kvöld - Icelandic)
(jûn, joun - Frisian)

Old varieties:
āƀand - Old Saxon
āband - Old High German
āvend, ēvend - Old Frisian
ǣfen - Old English
aptann - Old Norse
afton, aftan, aptan - Old Swedish

From English etymology site:
evening (n.) from Old English æfnung "the coming of evening, sunset, time around sunset," verbal noun from æfnian "become evening, grow toward evening," from æfen "evening" (see eve).
eve (n.) c. 1200, eve "evening," especially the time between sunset and darkness, from Old English æfen (...) Old Saxon aband, Old Frisian ewnd, Dutch avond, Old High German aband, German Abend, Old Norse aptann, Danish aften (...)
Dutch etymology states that the origin is unclear:
"Volgens een recente theorie wijzen de ongewone wisselingen en de beperkte verspreiding van het woord op niet-Indo-Europese herkomst." (According to a recent theory, the uncommon changes/varieties and the limited spread of the word suggest a non-Indo-European origin.)

OLB has three fragments with the word, in two varieties:

1 [012/23] Frya's Tex
THES MORNES THES MIDDÉIS ÀND THES ÉWENDES

2 [047/25] bad times; on all burgs
BY ÉVIND AN THENE MIDDEL.SÉ

3 [198/07] black Adel
HWAND .S.ÉWENDIS FON THÉRE SELVARE DÉI

What is the more pure form, ÉWEND or ÉVIND? É means water elsewhere and WENDA/ WENDE also occur. I have no answer for now. This post is for future reference.

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