An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/neu

by Friedrich Kluge

neu, adjective, ‘new, fresh, modern, novel,’ from the equivalent Middle High German niuwe, niu, Old High German niuwi. Corresponding forms exist in the Teutonic and Aryan group; Gothic niujis, Old Icelandic nŷr, Anglo-Saxon níwe, English new, Dutch nieuw, Old Saxon niuwi. Teutonic niuja, from pre-Teutonic néuyo-, appears also in Sanscrit návyas (and návas), Lithuanian naújas (Old Slovenian novŭ, Latin novus, Greek νέος), The primary meaning of this primitively Aryan neujo-, newo, cannot be determined with certainty; it is probably connected with the Old Aryan particle nū̆, ‘now,’ so what was new was regarded as ‘that which has just come into being’ (compare nun). Its relation to the following word is very doubtful.