Ash
Old English æsce, aexe, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch as and German Asche .
wiktionary
From Middle English asshe, from Old English æsċe, from Proto-West Germanic *askā, from Proto-Germanic *askǭ (compare West Frisian jiske, Dutch as, Low German Asch, German Asche, Danish aske, Swedish aska, Norwegian ask), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs-; see it for cognates.
The rare plural axen is from Middle English axen, axnen, from Old English axan, asċan(“ashes”) (plural of Old English axe, æsċe(“ash”)).
From Middle English asshe, from Old English æsċ, from Proto-Germanic *askaz, *askiz (compare West Frisian esk, Dutch es, German Esche, Danish/Norwegian/Swedish ask), from Proto-Indo-European *Heh₃s- (compare Welsh onnen, Latin ornus(“wild mountain ash”), Lithuanian úosis, Russian я́сень(jásenʹ), Albanian ah(“beech”), Ancient Greek ὀξύα(oxúa, “beech”), Old Armenian հացի(hacʿi)).
etymonline
ash (n.1)
"powdery remains of fire," Old English æsce "ash," from Proto-Germanic *askon (source also of Old Norse and Swedish aska, Old High German asca, German asche, Middle Dutch asche, Gothic azgo "ashes"), from PIE root *as- "to burn, glow." Spanish and Portuguese ascua "red-hot coal" are Germanic loan-words.
An ancient symbol of grief or repentance; hence Ash Wednesday (c. 1300), from custom introduced by Pope Gregory the Great of sprinkling ashes on the heads of penitents on the first day of Lent. Ashes meaning "mortal remains of a person" is late 13c., in reference to the ancient custom of cremation. Meaning "Finely pulverized lava thrown from a volcano" is from 1660s.
ash (n.2)
popular name of a common type of forest tree of Eurasia, North America, and North Africa, Old English æsc "ash tree," from Proto-Germanic *askaz, *askiz (source also of Old Norse askr, Old Saxon ask, Middle Dutch esce, German Esche), from PIE root *os- "ash tree" (source also of Armenian haci "ash tree," Albanian ah "beech," Greek oxya "beech," Latin ornus "wild mountain ash," Russian jasen, Lithuanian uosis "ash").
The close-grained wood of the ash is tough and elastic, and it was the preferred wood for spear-shafts, so Old English æsc sometimes meant "spear," as in æsc-here "company armed with spears," æsc-plega "war," literally "spear-play." Æsc also was the name of the Old English runic letter that begins the word.
