Etymology: Cognate with Old Dutch īwa , īwi (Middle Dutch īwe , iewe , ieve , Dutch ijf ), Middle Low German īve , īwe , Old High German īwa , īwo , īwi (Middle High German īwe , eiba yew tree, bow, German Eibe yew tree), Old Icelandic ýr yew tree, bow (Icelandic ýr ), Swedish regional åyve (compare also with collective suffix Old Swedish ydhe , idhe yew grove (Swedish ide yew wood, id , yd yew tree)), of uncertain origin; apparently < the Indo-European base seen (with various ablaut grades) in ancient Greek οἴη , ὄα , ὄη rowan tree, service tree, classical Latin ūva grape, bunch of grapes (see uva n.), Early Irish eó stem, shaft, tree, (especially) yew tree, Welsh yw (collective) yew trees, yew wood, Russian iva, Polish iwa, Bulgarian iva, all in the sense ‘willow’, Lithuanian ieva bird cherry, although the exact relationship of these forms to each other is unclear. Compare further the closely related Old English īh (also ēoh) yew tree, name of a rune (see note), Old Saxon īh, īch, Old High German īgo (German reɡional (Switzerland) īche, īge), both ‘yew tree’, apparently < the same Indo-European base, with different suffixation (velar as opposed to labiovelar).Compare: ( < the Gaulish cognate of the Celtic forms cited above, probably reflected by Gaulish iuo- in personal names) Old French, Middle French, French if yew (c1100); (probably < a Germanic language) post-classical Latin ifus , ivus yew (from 13th cent. in British sources); ( < Middle Low German) Old Prussian iuwis , Latvian īve yew. Compare further Middle French, French ive germander (see herb Ive n.). The range of forms attested for the name of the yew tree in the Germanic languages (i.e. those with labiovelar and those with velar) is phonologically problematic. Attempts have been made to explain both types as developed from a common Germanic lexeme, with a medial labiovelar consonant, but this is difficult to reconcile with forms of the name of this and similar trees in other Indo-European languages, listed above. For further discussion see A. L. Lloyd et al. Etymol. Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen (2014) V. 240–5. Use of the word in the sense ‘bow’ in the Scandinavian languages reflects the traditional use of yew wood in the manufacture of these items (compare sense 1b). Use as rune name. Use of the word for ‘yew’ as the name of a rune probably goes back to Germanic, as Old Icelandic ýr is also attested in similar use, although for a different rune. The original sound value of the rune that bears the name in the English futhorc is uncertain and disputed, perhaps a mid-front vowel. The rune name is attested early (and most reliably) in the form īh in MS Vienna, National Library 795, in a futhorc copied by a continental scribe in the 9th or 10th cent. Other, mostly later, name forms (e.g. eth, iu) are problematic due to apparent confusion of the name of the rune with its assumed sound value and confusion of runes with each other as well as other transmission errors. In the Old English Rune Poem the rune name (in form eoh, written alongside the rune) is used in the sense ‘yew tree’; however, the text exists only in an 18th-cent. edition (the original manuscript, apparently of the late 10th cent., is lost) and the provenance and date of the transliteration of the rune are disputed:OE Rune Poem (transcript of lost MS) 35 [Eoh] byþ utan unsmeþe treow, heard, hrusan fæst, hyrde fyres, wyrtrumun underwreþyd, wynan [probably read wyn] on eþle.

Etymology: Representing a regional or colloquial pronunciation of you pron. (compare forms at that entry).In some cases perhaps used as a conventional marker of a nonstandard or regional variety while not in fact indicating any phonological difference from the standard variety; in others perhaps an attempt to convey a central or front rounded vowel, /ʉ:/ or /yː/. With yewall pron. at Derivatives compare you-all pron.