yew – English noun declension

English noun forms of yew

Noun: yew
Singularyew
Pluralyews

Sample Sentences

  • Old Yew, which graspest at the stones
  • ⁠That name the under-lying dead,
  • ⁠Thy fibres net the dreamless head,
  • Thy roots are wrapt about the bones. [1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto II”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:]
  • Have a tree or two the witches particularly like, such as the alder, larch, cypress and hemlock; then, to counteract any possible evil effects, there must be a holly, yew, hazel, elder, mountain ash or juniper. [1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 273:]
  • At Darley Dale, in Derbyshire, there is another yew about 1,000 years younger with a 32 ft girth, while a mighty yew at Goudhurst, Kent, has a bench seating 12 in its hollow trunk. [1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 119:]
  • To prevent a too great conſumption of yew, bowyers were directed to make four bows of witch-haſel, aſh or elm, to one of yew, and no perſon under ſeventeen years of age, unleſs poſſeſſed of moveables worth forty marks, or the ſon of parents having an eſtate of ten pounds per annum might ſhoot in an yew bow, under a penalty of 6s. 8d. [1786, Francis Grose, “Of Offensive Arms, or Weapons”, in A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, […], London: […] S. Hooper, […], →OCLC, pages 37–38:]
  • English soldiers handled sturdy bows of yew, ash, or elm, which could propel an iron-tipped arrow as far as a hundred yards. [1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000, page 155:]

Etymology

1. From Middle English ew, from Old English īw, ēow, [both cognates of Welsh yw (“yews”), Irish eo, Old Irish eó respectively]; although the Old English form was conjectured to be from Proto-West Germanic *īhu, from Proto-Germanic *īhwaz (compare Icelandic ýr), masculine variant of *īwō (compare Dutch ijf, German Eibe), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyHw-.
2. See also Hittite 𒄑𒂊𒅀𒀭 (eyan, “type of evergreen”), Latgalian īva (“bird cherry”), Lithuanian ievà (“bird cherry”), Russian и́ва (íva, “willow”).
3. Compare typologically Ancient Greek τόξον (tóxon), possibly a cognate of Latin taxus. See: Middle English Nouns 'ew', Irish Nouns 'eo', Dutch Nouns 'ijf', German Nouns 'Eibe'.

Verbs referencing "yew"

Norwegian Nynorsk Nouns y, French Nouns if, German Nouns Eibe, Russian Nouns ива, Dutch Nouns ijf.