An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/jung

by Friedrich Kluge

The adj. jung, ‘young, new, recent,’ is the common Teut. junga- (with a nasal); comp. MidHG. junc(g), OHG. and OSax. jung, Du. jong, AS. geong, E. young, Goth. juggs (jungs), ‘young.’ This common Teut. junga- is based, by contraction from juwunga-, upon a pre-Teut. yuwenko-, ‘young,’ with which Lat. juvencus, ‘youth,’ and Sans. yuvaçás, young,’ are identical. The earlier Aryan form yuwên (yéwen?) appears in Lat. juvenis, ‘young, youth,’ and juven-ta, ‘youth’ (equiv. to Goth. junda, f.), as well as in Sans. júvan, ‘young, youth’ (yôšâ, f., ‘maid’), and OSlov. junŭ, Lith. jáunas, ‘young’; they are all based upon an Aryan root yū̆, ‘to be young’ (comp. Sans. yávišṭha, ‘the youngest’).