< Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic
Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/wai
Proto-Germanic
Etymology
From Proto-Indo-European *wáy. Compare Latin vae, Lithuanian vaĩ, vái, Russian увы́ (uvý, “alas”), Middle Irish fáe, Welsh gwae (“woe”), Avestan 𐬬𐬀𐬫𐬋𐬌 (vayōi), Sanskrit उवे (uvé), Persian وای (vây).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /wɑi̯/
Interjection
*wai
- woe! alas! (expression of grief)
Related terms
- *wainagaz
- *wainōną
- *waiwô
- *waiwō
Descendants
- Proto-West Germanic: *wai
- Old English: wā
- Middle English: wa, wo, woo
- English: woe
- Scots: wa, wae
- Middle English: wa, wo, woo
- Old Frisian: wach, *wē
- West Frisian: wee, wea
- Old Saxon: wah, wē
- Middle Low German: wach, wê
- Old Dutch: *wē
- Middle Dutch: wee
- Dutch: wee
- Middle Dutch: wee
- Old High German: wah, wa, wē
- Middle High German: wāch, wē
- Cimbrian: bèa
- German: weh, Weh, wehe, Wehe
- Yiddish: וויי (vey)
- → English: vey
- Middle High German: wāch, wē
- → Vulgar Latin: *wai, *guai
- Catalan: guai
- Emilian: ouais (Modenese)
- Old French: gway, gwai, guai, way, wai
- Middle French: vé, vee (merger with or from Latin vae)
- French: vé (dialectical, Montbéliard)
- Middle French: vé, vee (merger with or from Latin vae)
- Italian: guai
- Piedmontese: guaj
- Portuguese: guai (obsolete)
- Old Spanish: guay
- Spanish: guay, guais (plural)
- Ladino: guay, uay
- Sicilian: vai
- Old English: wā
- Old Norse: vei, væ
- Icelandic: vei, væ
- Faroese: vei, veiggj
- Norwegian: ve
- Westrobothnian: väj, vaj
- Old Swedish: vē
- Swedish: ve
- Danish: ve
- → Middle English: waȝȝ, wæi, wei, weye, wai
- ⇒ Middle English: weylaway, wailewaie
- English: welaway, wellaway
- ⇒ Middle English: weylaway, wailewaie
- ⇒ Old Norse: væla (“to wail”)
- → Middle English: weilen, waylen (“to wail, cry, sob”)
- English: wail
- Icelandic: væla
- ⇒ Old Norse: væl (“wail”, noun)
- Icelandic: væl
- → Middle English: weilen, waylen (“to wail, cry, sob”)
- Gothic: 𐍅𐌰𐌹 (wai)
References
- Martin Findell Phonological Evidence from the Continental Runic Inscriptions (2012), citing Schneider (1980) (reconstructs *wai and notes the Gothic, ON, OE, OS and OHG descendants)