Qfyilyi

I've often wondered why ash (trees) and ash (burnt residue) have the same name.

I've looked up the origin of both words, but I don't see anything that explains why the names are the same.

From the Online Etymology Dictionary:

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.

I understand that words can be homonyms, which are words that have the same spelling but different meanings and origins.

However, the fact that both words are related to wood makes me think that it might not be a mere coincidence.

Is there a reason why ash (trees) and ash (burnt residue) have the same name?

The Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary says:

ash (ash), n.

[AS. æsce.] A timber and shade tree (genus Fraxinus) of the olive family, having pinnate leaves, thin furrowed bark, and ash-colored branchlets: also, its tough elastic wood. See SAMARA, Illust.

^{Photo of text.}

I wonder if the ash tree got its name because ash tree branchlets resemble ashes in appearance.