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always [always 词源字典]: always: [13] In Old English, the expression was alne weg, literally ‘all the way’. It seems likely that this was used originally in the physical sense of ‘covering the complete distance’, but by the time it starts to appear in texts (King Alfred’s is the first recorded use, in his translation of Boethius’s De consolatione philosophiae around 888) it already meant ‘perpetually’. Alway survived into modern English, albeit as an archaism, but began to be replaced as the main form by always in the 12th century.

The final -s is genitive, not plural, and was originally added to all as well as way: alles weis. It has a generalizing force, much as in modern English one might say of a morning for ‘every morning’.
=> way[always etymology, always origin, 英语词源]
always (adv.): mid-14c., compound of Old English phrase ealne weg "always, quite, perpetually," literally "all the way," with accusative of space or distance, though the oldest recorded usages refer to time; see all + way (n.). The adverbial genitive -s appeared early 13c. and is now the standard, though the variant alway survived into 1800s. OED speculates allway was originally of space or distance, "but already in the oldest Eng. transferred to an extent of time."
anyways (adv.): see anyway.
dog days (n.): 1530s, from Latin dies caniculares, from Greek; so called because they occur around the time of the heliacal rising of Sirius, the Dog Star (kyon seirios). Noted as the hottest and most unwholesome time of the year; usually July 3 to Aug. 11, but variously calculated, depending on latitude and on whether the greater Dog-star (Sirius) or the lesser one (Procyon) is reckoned.

The heliacal rising of Sirius has shifted down the calendar with the precession of the equinoxes; in ancient Egypt c. 3000 B.C.E. it coincided with the summer solstice, which also was the new year and the beginning of the inundation of the Nile. The "dog" association apparently began here (the star's hieroglyph was a dog), but the reasons for it are obscure.
edgeways (adv.): also edge-ways, "with the edge turned forward or toward a particular point," 1560s, from edge (n.) + way (n.). First attested form of the word is edgewaie; the adverbial genitive -s appears by 1640s. Edgewise (1715) appears to be a variant, based on otherwise, etc. See edge (v.).
As if it were possible for any of us to slide in a word edgewise! [Mary Mitford, "Our Village," 1824].
To edge in a word in this sense is from 1680s.
ember-days (n.): Old English Ymbrendaeg, Ymbren, 12 days of the year (divided into four seasonal periods, hence Medieval Latin name quatuor tempora) set aside by the Church for fasting and prayers, from Old English ymbren "recurring," corruption of ymbryne "a circuit, revolution, course, anniversary," literally "a running around," from ymb "round" (cognate with Greek amphi, Latin ambo; see ambi-) + ryne "course, running" (see run (n.)). Perhaps influenced by a corruption of the Latin name (compare German quatember, Danish tamper-dage). The Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent, Whit-Sunday, Sept. 14, and Dec. 13, set aside for prayer and fasting.
folkways (n.): coined 1906 in a book of the same name by U.S. sociologist William Graham Sumner (1840-1910); see folk (n.) + way (n.).
Folkways are habits of the individual and customs of the society which arise from efforts to satisfy needs. ... Then they become regulative for succeeding generations and take on the character of a social force. [Sumner, "Folkways"]
Sumner also often is credited with ethnocentrism, which is found in the same book but is older.
hayseed (n.): also hay-seed, 1570s, "grass seed shaken out of hay," from hay + seed (n.). In U.S. slang sense of "comical rustic" it dates from 1875. To have hayseed in (one's) hair was a common mid-19c. way in U.S. to indicate a country person.
The opinion of the court was delivered by Justice Hunt; the chief justice, in whose hair the Ohio hayseed still lingers, delivering a dissenting opinion (etc.) ["The Chronicle," New York, Nov. 12, 1874]
haystack (n.): mid-15c., from hay + stack (n.).
leastways: 1825, colloquial, from least + way (n.). Regarded as vulgar, but simply a one-word form of Chaucer's leest weye (late 14c.).
lengthways: 1590s, from length + way (n.), with adverbial genitive -s.
longways (adv.): 1580s, from long (adj.) + way (n.) + adverbial genitive -s.
Malaysia: from Malay + Latinate ending -sia. Originally an early 19c. British geographers' name for the Indonesian archipelago. Related: Malaysian.
naysayer (n.): 1721, from verb naysay (implied from 1530s in naysaying); from nay + say (v.). Nay-say "refusal" is from 1630s.
needways (adv.): "by necessity," c. 1300, a northern and Scottish word, marked as obsolete in OED; from need (n.) + way (n.), with adverbial genitive.
nowadays (adv.): late 14c., contracted from Middle English nou adayes (mid-14c.), from now + adayes "during the day," with adverbial genitive (see day).
says: third person singular of say (v.), c. 1300, eventually replacing saith.
sideways (adv.): 1570s, from side (n.) + way (n.), with adverbial genitive. To look sideways "cast scornful glances" is recorded from 1844.
slantways (adv.): 1826, from slant (n.) + way (n.) + adverbial genitive -s.
stays (n.): "laced underbodice," c. 1600, from plural of stay (n.1). Also compare bodice.
wayside (n.): "the side of the road," c. 1400, from way (n.) + side (n.). To fall by the wayside is from Luke viii:5.
paysage: "A landscape, especially as depicted in art", French, literally 'countryside', from pays 'country'.