Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/wai

This Proto-West Germanic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-West Germanic

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wai.

Interjection

*wai

1. woe!, alas!

Descendants

• Old English: wā, wei, wǣ
  • Middle English: wa, wo, woo
    • English: woe
    • Scots: wa, wae
• Old Frisian: wach, *wē
  • West Frisian: wee, wea
• Old Saxon: wah, wē
  • Middle Low German: wach, wê
• Old Dutch: *wē
  • Middle Dutch: wee
    • Dutch: wee
• Old High German: wah, wa, wē
  • Middle High German: wāch, wē
    • Cimbrian: bèa
    • German: weh, Weh, wehe, Wehe
    • Yiddish: וויי (vey)
      • → English: vey
• → Vulgar Latin: *wai, *guai
  • Catalan: guai
  • Emilian: ouais (Modenese)
  • Old French: gway, gwai, guai, way, wai
    • Middle French: vé, vee (merger with or from Latin vae)
      • French: vé (dialectical, Montbéliard)
  • Italian: guai
  • Piedmontese: guaj
  • Portuguese: guai (obsolete)
  • Old Spanish: guay
    • Spanish: guay, guais (plural)
    • Ladino: guay, uay
  • Sicilian: vai