*ahanō

From Proto-Indo-European *h₂éḱ-on-eh₂-/*h₂eḱ-ón-eh₂-, a neuter collective noun created from an n-stem *h₂eḱ-on-, from root *h₂eḱ-, with semantic development ‘sharp point, sharp object’ → ‘awn’ → ‘chaff, grain-refuse’ in the Germano-Italic agricultural vocabulary (de Vaan 2008: 29; Kroonen et al. 2022: 13). The Germanic forms point to Proto-Germanic *ahanō beside Vernerized *aganō: Gothic 𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽𐌰 (ahana) preserves *-h-, while the North and West Germanic reflexes reflect *-g-, plausibly from suffixal accent or analogical generalization of a Verner variant (Kroonen 2013: 5). Cognate with Latin agna < Proto-Italic *aknā; compare Old Prussian ackons (though this is possibly a borrowing from Germanic), and formally related (but not identical derivatives of the same PIE root) such as Ancient Greek ἀκόνη (akónē), ἄκαινα (ákaina), Sanskrit अशनि (áśani-), and the related cereal s-stem seen in Proto-Germanic *ahaz, Latin acus, and Tocharian B āke (de Vaan 2008: 23–24; Kroonen et al. 2022: 10, 13; Watkins 2011: s.v. ak-). De Vaan also notes that Latin agna may alternatively be a Mediterranean loan.