woe is me
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]The pronoun me expresses the dative, thus literally “woe is to me”, or in more idiomatic English “on me”. Compare the identical German weh ist mir and Yiddish וויי איז מיר (vey iz mir).
Pronunciation
[edit]Interjection
[edit]- (sometimes humorous) Used to show that the speaker feels distress or misery.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 266, column 1:
- Blasted with extasie. Oh, woe is me,
T'haue seene what I haue seene: see what I see.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 120:5:
- Woe is me, that I soiourne in Mesech: that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.
Translations
[edit]interjection
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