Etymology

cp. OIcel váði ‘danger, peril; a dangerous object’, usually regarded as a derivative of OIcel vá ‘woe, calamity, danger’ < PGmc *waiwō(n) (cp. OE wēa (and the rarer by-form wāwa), OS wē, OHG wēwa, wēwo), and thus as representing a PGmc *waiwaðan or *waiwaþan (see OED, de Vries, WAWN, and Mag.). In that case the medial fricative is not a good test of loan, but the vocalism is not compatible with a native development in OE (which would likely yield *wēaða). Alternatively (Jóh., Mag.) ON váði could be regarded as a formation on PGmc *wanx-; but it can only be connected confidently with Go unwahs ‘blameless’ and OE wōh ‘bent, twisted (etc.)’, and not OIcel vá ‘cabin, nook’ (despite de Vries s.v. vá (2), WAWN s.v. vá (1), Mag. s.v. vá (2)).  But even accepting this origin, a native development < PGmc *wanxaþan can equally well be ruled out on the grounds of the vocalism (> OE *wōða giving early ME /o:/ rather than the /ɑ:/ < ON /ɑ:/ implied by ME variants in and ).

PGmc Ancestor

*waiwaðan or *waiwaþan 

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

váði ‘danger, peril; a dangerous object’
(ONP váði (sb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far váði, Icel voði, Norw våde, ODan wathæ, Dan våde, OSw vaþe, Sw våde

OE Cognate

? wēa 'misfortune, evil, trouble'

Phonological and morphological markers

[ON fricative /ð/ < PGmc */ð/] (may not be applicable)

ON / ɑ:/ &lt; PGmc */anx/

Summary category

A1c

Attestation

Predominantly a N/EM word, with rare possible exceptions (assuming that c1275 On hire is al (Clg A.9) 16 and LB (Otho C.13) represent woþe rather than forms of ME wough < OE wōh).

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 222, 488, 1576, etc.; Pe 151, 375; Cl 855, 988; Erk 233; WA 119 etc.

On the sense at Gaw 488, see Emerson 1922: 371. Goll emends <wo> at Pe 154 to wo[þe] (identifying it with ME woþe 'peril' < ON váði, though in his 1891 ed. he identifies it with ME woþe OE from wáth and glosses 'path, lit. pasturage'); see EVG 154n in support of the emendation, although he maintains the MS reading as satisfactory.

Bibliography

MED wōth (n.) , OED wothe (n. and adj.) , HTOED , Dance woþe, Bj. 94, 167, de Vries váði, Jóh. 105, Mag. voði