weylawey

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English wā lā wā, weg-lā-weg, wei-lā-wei, wī-lā-wei.[1]

Pronunciation

Hyphenation: wey‧la‧wey

Interjection

weylawey

A general interjection expressing distress, regret, or sorrow: alack, alas, lackaday.
- 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Myllers Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], OCLC 230972125; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: Printed by [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, OCLC 932884868, folio xv, recto, column 2:
  Alas quoth Abſolon, and welaway / That trewe loue was euer ſo yuel byſette / Than kiſſe me, ſyn it may be no bette / For Jeſus loue, and for the loue of me.
  (please add an English translation of this quote)

Descendants

English: welaway, wellaway (archaic)

References

“wei-lā̆-wei, interj.” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 15 October 2018.

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