O.E.
arwan, earlier
earh "arrow," possibly borrowed from O.N.
ör (gen.
örvar), from P.Gmc.
*arkhwo (cf. Goth.
arhwanza), from PIE base
*arku- "bow and/or arrow," source of Latin
arcus (see
arc). The ground sense would be "the thing belonging to the bow," perhaps a superstitious avoidance of the actual name. A rare word in O.E., where more common words for "arrow" were
stræl (cognate with the word still common in Slavic, once prevalent in Gmc., too; meaning related to "flash, streak") and
fla, flan, a N.Gmc. word, perhaps with the sense of "splinter."
Stræl disappeared by 1200;
fla lingered in Scottish until after 1500.
Arrowhead is from 1483; ancient ones dug up also were called
elf-arrows (17c.).
Arrowroot (1696) so called because it was used to absorb toxins from poison-dart wounds.
[ar-oh] 
) Astronomy. the constellation Sagitta.
