*aliskōną

Probably derived from *alaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-. The formation contains *-isk- and may have arisen through a corresponding adjective *aliskaz (‘fond, affectionate; dear, beloved’), continued by Old Norse elskr (de Vries 1977: s.v. elska), followed by formation of the Weak class 2 verb in *-ōną; alternatively, *aliskaz and *aliskōną may represent parallel Germanic derivatives of the same base; Kroonen reconstructs aliskōn- directly as a derivative of alan- (but without further explanation of the origin of the *-isk-) (Kluge 1899: §211; Kroonen 2013: 22; Rix et al. 2001: 262; Ringe 2017: 211–14, 275). Kroonen compares Danish opelske, which preserves the older semantic connection between ‘nurture, rear’ and the later North Germanic development ‘cherish, love’.