Waage

English

Etymology

Borrowed from German, Icelandic or Norwegian Waage.

Proper noun

Waage (plural Waages)

1. A surname.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Waage is the 31001^st most common surname in the United States, belonging to 749 individuals. Waage is most common among White (96.26%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Waage”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 3, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.

German

Alternative forms

• Wage (archaic since 1927; nonstandard since 1996)

Etymology

From Middle High German wāge, from Old High German wāga, from Proto-West Germanic *wāgu (“scales”). Cognate with Dutch waag, English wey.

The spelling Waage was used alongside Wage since at least the 17th century. As the etymological school of the 19th century favoured single vowels, some doubled spellings like baar, Schooß, Waage were abolished during the reforms of the early 20th century. However, the spelling Waage was standardised again by two decrees from the governments of Austria (March 1927) and Germany (July 1927) in order to avoid the ambiguity between plural Waagen and Wagen (“car[s], carriage[s]”), as for example in Waagenbau (“construction of scales”) versus Wagenbau (“construction of cars”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvaːɡə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

• Homophones: vage, wage

Noun

Waage f (genitive Waage, plural Waagen)

1. scales (weighing machine)
2. (astronomy, astrology) Libra

Declension

Declension of Waage [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Waage	die	Waagen
genitive	einer	der	Waage	der	Waagen
dative	einer	der	Waage	den	Waagen
accusative	eine	die	Waage	die	Waagen

Derived terms

• Briefwaage
• Personenwaage
• Waagschale
• Zünglein an der Waage

Related terms

• wagen
• wägen
• erwägen
• wiegen

Proper noun

Waage m or f (proper noun, surname, masculine genitive Waages or (with an article) Waage, feminine genitive Waage, plural Waages or Waage)

1. a surname

See also

Zodiac signs in German (layout · text)
Widder	Stier	Zwillinge	Krebs
Löwe	Jungfrau	Waage	Skorpion
Schütze	Steinbock	Wassermann	Fische

Further reading

• “Waage” in Duden online
• “Waage” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Icelandic

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch and German Waage (“scale”). Also a surname derived from Old Norse vágr (“inlet, bay”), the source of Norwegian Våge.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɔːɣɛː/

Proper noun

Waage

1. a surname

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Waage”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 3, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.