𐍅𐌰𐌹

Forms

𐍅𐌰𐌹 (wai), an interjection, construed with the dative like its Greek model.^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wai (“woe”),^[4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *wai.^[4][6] The Germanic cognates are Old Norse vei, Old English wā, Old Saxon wē and Old High German wē.^[5][7] Outside Germanic, Uhlenbeck and Holthausen compare Latin vae, Latvian vai, Old Irish fé and Welsh gwae.^[7][8] Lehmann notes that some similar forms elsewhere, such as Ancient Greek οὐαί (ouaí), may be new formations.^[9]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts nine tokens and Köbler eight, in Matthew, Luke and Mark, all in manuscript CA.^[10][6] PROIEL aligns all nine with οὐαί.^[11] The first record in canonical order is Matthew 11:21: wai þus Kaurazein ("woe to you, Chorazin").^[12]

Meanings

1. woe!, alas!, with the dative of the person, for οὐαί.^[1][2][6]

Word family

• 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌴𐌳𐌾𐌰 (waidēdja, “evildoer”)
• 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐌽𐌴𐌹 (wainei, “if only”)
• 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍆𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍈𐌾𐌰𐌽 (waifairƕjan, “to lament”)
• 𐍅𐌰𐌾𐌰𐌼𐌴𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wajamērjan, “to blaspheme”)
• 𐍅𐌰𐌾𐌰𐌼𐌴𐍂𐌴𐌹 (wajamērei, “bad reputation”)
• 𐍅𐌰𐌾𐌰𐌼𐌴𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (wajamēreins, “blasphemy”)

Borrowings into other languages

• Catalan: guai^[4]
• Portuguese: guai^[4]
• Spanish: guay, through Old Spanish, from this word or from Latin vae^[4]

Related words

• 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌷𐍃 (wainahs, “wretched”)

References

1. ^ a b Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. wai
2. ^ a b Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 174
3. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 301
4. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐍅𐌰𐌹
5. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 566
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wai
7. ^ a b Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 164
8. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Gotisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. 117
9. ^ Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. wai
10. ^ De Herdt, Tom (2004–2026), Project Wulfila: digital edition of the Gothic Bible with lemma and morphological annotation, data release 2026-09-03, wulfila.be
11. ^ Haug, Dag T. T. et al., PROIEL Treebank: The Gothic Bible (gothic-nt), 2023 release, Pragmatic Resources in Old Indo-European Languages, University of Oslo
12. ^ De Herdt, Tom (2004–2026), Project Wulfila: digital edition of the Gothic Bible with lemma and morphological annotation, data release 2026-09-03, wulfila.be, p. Mt 11:21