eheu

Forms

ēheu (interjection; the first syllable is usually long, short in some lines of Plautus and Terence)^[2]

Etymology

It is an expressive cry, related to heu (“alas”).^[2][1] Wiktionary compares Sanskrit अहो (aho), a comparison that once led scholars to assume an Indo-European origin.^[1] Köbler refers it to Pokorny's interjection Proto-Indo-European *eheu.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it often, in the Captivi, the Trinummus and the Miles Gloriosus, and Terence follows him.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

It expresses pain or grief, "alas!".^[2][4] It is often followed by ⟨quam⟩: in Terence a young man cries how much he now dislikes himself, and Horace uses the same turn.^[4] Lewis & Short note that the epic and lyric poets always scan it with a long first syllable, and that some editors print a doubled heu there instead.^[4] Church Latin glosses it ah.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[4][3]
• 190–159 BC – Terence, often with quam.^[4][3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it.^[4][3]

Meanings

Interjection

1. An exclamation of grief or pain: alas!, ah!^[2][4][1]

Related words

• heu
• English alas

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson