oh

Forms

ōh! ^[1] It is also written ō.^[2]

Etymology

It is a natural exclamation, imitative in origin.^[3] The OLD compares Ancient Greek ὦ (ô) and similar interjections in Gothic and other languages.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It belongs to the language of comedy.^[4] Plautus has it of pleasure, oh mihi! in tempore advenis, “oh, you have come just at the right time for me!”^[2]

Semantic evolution

It expresses very different feelings.^[5] In Plautus and Terence it marks pleasure or satisfaction, pain, misery or reproach, and surprise.^[2][5] Terence has oh, iniquus es, “oh, you are unfair”.^[5] Repeated as oh! oh! oh! it is a cry of lamentation in Plautus, and a doubled oh, oh expresses exultation.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of pleasure, pain and surprise.^[2][3]
• 190–159 BC – Terence, in reproach.^[5][3]

Meanings

Interjection

1. Expressing pleasure or satisfaction: oh!, ah!^[2][5][1]
2. Expressing pain, misery or reproach: oh!, alas!^[2][5]
3. Expressing surprise.^[2][5]

Usage notes

Georges and the TLL treat it together with the interjection ō.^[4][6]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften