yea

Pronunciation

• IPA: /jeɪ/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English ye, ya, inherited from Old English gēa, Anglian gē, so, yes,^[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *ja,^[4][3] an affirmative word found throughout Germanic: compare Old Saxon jā, Dutch ja, German ja and Old Norse já.^[2][4] Etymonline takes it to PIE Proto-Indo-European *yam-, from the pronoun stem *i-.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a simple affirmative answer: 731 in the OED.^[6] Barnhart has about 900 for Old English gēa and before 1325 for Middle English yai, yaa, in Cursor Mundi.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old English it was also an adverb meaning certainly or truly.^[3] As a noun, an affirmative vote, it is from the early 13th century,^[3] as is its use as a merely emphatic word introducing a statement.^[3] By the late 14th century it could introduce something to clarify or reinforce a point, yea, even more.^[3] Yea or nay and the yeas and nays survive in voting.^[7][8] In ordinary use it has been replaced by yes and is now archaic or dialectal,^[4][6] although it is still common in dialect.^[9]

Timeline

• 731 – yes.^[6]
• early 13th century – an affirmative vote.^[3]
• late 14th century – introducing a stronger statement.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adverb

1. (archaic) Yes; aye.
2. (archaic) Indeed; truly; and moreover.

Noun

1. An affirmative vote, or a person who votes yes: the yeas and nays.

Related words

• yes
• aye
• yeah
• nay

Usage notes

NODE records a separate, informal yea from the 1960s, probably a variant of the adverb, used with a gesture to show size, as in yea big.^[10]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
10. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press