If you say it a few times it sounds like such an alien word. As if no other words in English have that same root. Newt is the only one I can think of off the top of my head, but that must be unrelated.
In a nutshell, it's a shortening of "new things", a pluralization of the adjective being used as a noun. Etymology here
Newt on the other hand is a result of reanalysis of "an ewte" to "a newte" - the root from middle English "evete" < "efte" - a small lizard".