Evenynge

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The part of the day from late afternoon until night falls, when the sun has set or is setting ; the final or waning stage of someone's life or of a period of time
2. The time of day between afternoon and nightfall, as the light fades toward dark ; the late, declining phase of a life or an age
3. The closing portion of the daylight hours, running from sunset into the first dark of night ; the closing chapter of a life or an era as it draws toward its end

Etymology: This is a Middle English spelling of "evening," in which "-ynge" was an older way of writing the suffix now spelled "-ing." The spelling shows how Middle English scribes wrote the sounds they heard, and the word itself has changed little in meaning since then. The word comes from Old English "æfning," formed from "æfen" (the evening, the close of the day) plus the suffix "-ing," which turned a noun into a related noun for a period or occasion. "Æfen" is the ancestor of the modern "eve," so "Christmas Eve" and "evening" share a root. The same root appears in Old High German "abant," the source of German "Abend," and in Old Norse "aptann," which points to a common Germanic word for the close of the day. Its exact earlier origin is uncertain.