Please excuse me, but I must disagree with the last post from you Christopher. Here on Aikiweb in articles / general / Memoir of the Master (quotes from the founder) the very first quote is:
'As ai (harmony) is common with ai (love), I decided to name my unique budo Aikido, although the word "aiki" is an old one. The word which was used by the warriors in the past is fundamentally different from that of mine."
But again these are just my views and this doesn't make them right as much as I may like it
Thanks
Brian