ვაი

Georgian

Alternative forms

• ვაი-ვუი (vai-vui), ვაი-ვაი (vai-vai)

Etymology

From Old Georgian ვაჲ (vay). Akin to Mingrelian ვოი (voi), Laz ვოი (voi), Svan უ̂ა̈ჲ (ûäy). Probably natural exclamation. Compare also Persian وای (vây), Proto-Indo-European *wáy.

The adverbial usage is a semantic loan from Russian го́ре (góre).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vai/
• Hyphenation: ვაი

Interjection

ვაი • (vai)

1. Expresses pain
2. Expresses sorrow, regret, compassion or grief
3. Expression uttered when one realizes that something bad happened
4. Expresses threat
5. Expresses fear
6. Expresses surprise

Noun

ვაი • (vai) (plural ვაები)

1. misadventure

Adverb

ვაი • (vai)

1. placed before a word to express one's view that something or someone is not worthy of being called as such; so-called, poor excuse for

   ვაი-კრიტიკოსი ― vai-ḳriṭiḳosi ― criticaster

Derived terms

• ვაიმე (vaime)
• ვაი თუ (vai tu)
• ვაი რომ (vai rom)
• ვაი და ვარამი (vai da varami)
• ვაი-ვაგლახი (vai-vaglaxi)
• ვაი-ვიში (vai-viši)

References

• Čuxua, Merab (2009) “Damaṭebiti masalebi saertokartveluri puʒe-enis leksiḳuri pondisatvis [The Additional Materials for the Commonkartvelian Proto-language Lexical Fund]”, in Kartvelur enata sṭrukṭuris saḳitxebi (in Georgian), number 10, Tbilisi: Universali, page 248 of 227–250, reconstructs Proto-Kartvelian

Further reading

• Abulaʒe, Ilia (1973) “ვაჲ”, in Ʒveli kartuli enis leksiḳoni (masalebi) [Dictionary of Old Georgian (Materials)]‎^[1] (in Georgian), Tbilisi: Metsniereba, page 153b