Etymologically
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heu

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈhɛu̯][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɛːu̯][1]

Forms

heu (interjection)[1] Ovid and Statius let it stand in hiatus before a vowel.[2]

Etymology

It is an expressive interjection; compare ēheu.[1] Köbler sets it beside the Indo-European interjection that Pokorny gives as ⟨*eheu⟩.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius: heu quam crūdēlī condēbat membra sepulcrō, “alas, in what a cruel tomb he was burying the limbs”.[2][3] Plautus has heu, cor meum … finditur, “alas, my heart is breaking”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Heu expresses grief, regret, pain or indignation, “alas, ah, oh”, used alone or with an accusative.[2][4][1] In elegy it is weakened to little more than a sigh (Propertius: heu quantum per sē candida fōrma valet, “ah, how much a fair face can do by itself”).[2] The Vulgate and later texts also have heu mihi, “woe is me”.[5]

Church Latin glosses it “alas, woe”.[6]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius: heu quam crūdēlī….[2][3]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: heu, cor meum … finditur.[2][3]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius: heu quantum per sē candida fōrma valet.[2][3]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate: heu mihi.[5][3]

Meanings

Interjection

  1. Alas!, ah!, oh! (of grief, pain or indignation).[2][4][1][6]
  2. Ah! (a sigh).[2]
  • ēheu
  • vae

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson