*austrōnijaz

From *austr- + *-ōnijaz, a suffix complex specialized in Proto-Germanic cardinal direction adjectives. The base continues Proto-Indo-European *h₂éws-ter-ó-s, ultimately from *h₂ews- (Kroonen 2013: s.v. austera-; Lühr 2017: s.v. ôstar); the *-r- thus historically belongs to the directional base. Voyles (1992: 277) analyzes the adjective-forming element as *-rōn-, while Shields (2008: 219–225) derives the variation *-ōn- ~ -rōn- from older deictic/directional extensions followed by adjectival *-yo-. Later evidence supports an inherited nasal element in Germanic directional morphology (Dunkel 2014: 62; Fulk 2018: 183, 189; Kroonen 2011a: 85–92). EWA instead reconstructs PGmc *-ōnija-, with *-rōnija- arising secondarily by metanalysis, and tentatively compares Latin -āneus, possibly from a common Proto-Italic/Proto-Germanic *-ān(e)yo- from West PIE *-eh₂-(h₃)n-(e)iyo-, though they remain non-committal regarding whether they originate from a single form. (Lühr 2017: s.v. nordrôni).