vah

Forms

vah ^[1] A fuller form vaha occurs in Plautus and Afranius.^[2] The spelling va is restored by conjecture in Caecilius.^[3]

Etymology

It is an exclamation.^[1] Köbler compares the interjection Proto-Indo-European *u̯ai- (“woe”),^[4] and Lewis & Short equate it with Ancient Greek οὐά (ouá).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in Plautus,^[3][2] for example after someone says he has touched and knocked on a door: “vah! — what is it? — that was badly done”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It expresses many feelings:^[3] pain, dismay or vexation; contempt for a person or an idea, as in vah, apage te a me, “bah, get away from me”; and admiration or surprise, as in vah! solus hic homost qui sciat divinitus, “ah! this is the only man who knows things by divine inspiration”.^[3][2] Lewis & Short call it ante-classical and late.^[2] Church Latin has it as aha, ah or oh, of astonishment or joy.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of dismay, contempt and surprise.^[3][2][4]
• 2nd half of the 2nd century BC – Afranius has the form vaha.^[2][4]

Meanings

Interjection

1. Expressing pain, dismay or vexation: ah!, oh!^[3][1]
2. Expressing contempt: bah!^[3]
3. Expressing admiration or surprise: ah!, aha!^[3][2][5]

Related words

• vae

References

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