Etymology

Late OE weg lā and its expansion ME wailaway have sometimes been explained as showing substitution of ON vei (into the phrase attested earlier as wā lā), cp. OIcel vei ‘woe’ with OE wā, Go wái, OS, OHG wē; thus OED and early commentators, e.g. Skeat 1892: 462, Kluge 1901: 935. However, d’Ardenne (170–1) argues compellingly in favour of a native (emphatic) origin for OE weg lā and the subsequent ME forms (see also Dance 2003: 441–2). See also wela.

PGmc Ancestor

*wai

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

vei ‘woe’
(ONP vei (interj.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far vei, Icel vei, Norw vei, Dan ve, Sw ve

OE Cognate

cp. wel lā 'alas'; wā lā 'ah, oh, alas'; (late) weg lā 'euge'

Phonological and morphological markers

[ON /ei/ < PGmc */ai/] (may not be applicable)

Summary category

CC2

Attestation

Common and widespread throughout ME.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

WA 4564

Bibliography

MED wei-lā-wei (interj.), OED wellaway (int. and n.), Dance wela, de Vries vei, Mag. vei, Orel *wai, Kroonen *wai, AEW wā, wǣ