*ainakjǭ

Possibly from earlier Proto-Germanic *ainak-jōn- (‘solitary woman’), built to *ainak-/*ainakla- (‘standing alone, solitary’), ultimately from *ainaz (‘one’) with a suffixal *-k-/*-kl- extension, perhaps continuing Proto-Indo-European *h₁oyno-gó- / *h₁oyno-g-lo-(Krahe & Meid 1969: §156). Alternatively, according to Olsen, *ainakjǭ is derived from the same stem as Old Norse einka and einkum (genitive and dative plural of unattested adjective **eink). She posits an old compound as a protoform: *Hoyno-gʷ(h₂)o- meaning ‘going alone’, maintaining that “Germanic -k- is not an established suffix” (Magnússon 1989: s.v. einka-; Whitehead et al. 2021: 151–52). In either case, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁óy-no-s. In North Germanic this internal Germanic formation replaced inherited *widuwǭ < Proto-Indo-European *h₁widʰéwh₂: compare Old Norse ekkja, Old East Norse/Old Swedish ænkia, Old Danish ænkiæ, Swedish änka, Danish/Norwegian enke (Kroonen 2013: 585; Ringe 2017: 61–62, 121; Whitehead et al. 2021: 151–52).