wellaway, int. and n. Now arch.
(ˈwɛləˈweɪ)
Forms: α. weᵹ lá weᵹ, wei lá wei (2 w{iacu} lá wei), 3 wæilawæi, 3–4 weilawei, 3–5 -wai (6 Sc. -wa), 4–5 weilawey, 3–5 -way, 5–6 weillaway (5 -weye), 4–5 weylaway (5 weyle-away, -awey); 4–5 weylowey (weyllo-), weyloway, 5 weilowey, -waie; 4–5 weile-, weyleway. β. 3–4 wailawai, 3–5 -way; 3–4 waile-wai, 4 -way, 5 -wey (3–4 wailwai), 4–5 wailoway, 6 waile a way; 3–5 wayla-, 4–5 wayle-, wayloway. γ. 3–4 walawai, 4–5 -waie, walewai(e; 3–5 (9) walaway, 4–5 -waye, -wey(e, 4 wale(a)way, woleway; 4–5 walo(w)way; Sc. 6–7 walla-, 6 wallo-, 7 wallouway, 8 walaways, 9 wally-wae. δ. 3 welawei, 5 -weie, 4–5 -wey, 4 -weye; 4–7 welaway, 4–6 -waye, 5 -waie, whela-, weloway; 4–5 well-, welle awey, 5 well y weye, 5–6 well-, 6 welle awaye; 5–7 (9) wellaway (well-away, well-a-way); Sc. 6 welloway, 9 wellawa, 8–9 williwa (9 will a waes). ε. 4–5 weleawey, 4–6 -away, 6 Sc. weill away, 6–7 wealaway, weale away.
[OE. weᵹ lá weᵹ, wei lá wei, an alteration of wá lá wá (see wellawo), by substitution of the OScand. interjection *wei (ON. and Icel. vei; see weila) for OE. wá. The later forms are partly normal phonetic developments, partly the result of contamination with forms representing OE. wá lá wá, and partly due to the first element being identified with, or replaced by, wel, wele well adv. (cf. wella).]
A. int. An exclamation of sorrow or lamentation. (Cf. welladay, -anear, -a-wins.)
Formerly often in phr. to sing wellaway, my (his, etc.) song is wellaway.
| α c 888 ælfred Boeth. xxxv. §7 Weilawei [Bodl. wila wei]. c 1000 Lambeth Ps. xxxix. 16 Qui dicunt mihi euge euge, Þa þe cweðaþ me weᵹla weᵹ vel wala wa vel eala eala. c 1205 Lay. 17918 Wæilawæi, wæilawæi,..muchel is þa sorȝe þe isiȝen is to londe. a 1225 Ancr. R. 64 Weilawei, min eie haueð irobbed al mine soule. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8193 De mount scabiouse was aslawe, weilaway. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 12238 Biside þe toumbe þis womman lay, & often cried ‘wey la way!’ c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 152 Iohn..gan to crie: harrow and weylaway. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy iv. 4392 For now her trust of kynȝthod was away, Her worþi men slayen, weillaway! c 1440 Ps. Penit. (1894) 29 Defautes fele that me deface, Maketh me synge weylawey. |
| β a 1250 Owl & N. 220 Þu singist aniȝht and noȝt adai & al þi song is wailawai [Jesus MS. waylaway]. a 1300 Cursor M. 8669 Bot wailawai! it sua bitide, Mi felaw smord hir barn in bedd. c 1400 Gamelyn 197 (Harl. MS.) And þer he herd a Frankeleyn wayloway syng. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge ii. 1614 Women and children cried ‘out and waile-a-way’. |
| γ a 1300 Cursor M. 9056 Has þou, coth þai, þi lau renaid? Yaa, soth haf i, walawai! he said. 13.. Gosp. Nicod. 1314 (Sion MS.) For come he here, I haue greete drede we sal say waloway. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 2434 Þan sal walaway be þi sang. c 1460 Towneley Myst. v. 36 Now, alas, and walo-way! c 1480 Henryson Fox & Wolf 155 Now, quod the Foxe, allace and wallaway! a 1568 in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club) 378 Now, walloway, is thair no help? 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1775) I. 136 Walaways! I dow to do! |
| δ a 1225 Ancr. R. 408 Louerd, wultu smiten?..Welawei! þu meiht wel. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 11214 ‘Welaweye’ þey cry and sey. c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 338 But welawaye, to far ben thei to fecche. 14.. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 125/63 Therfore my song is well-y-wey! c 1440 Partonope 6497 Hys songe was not but wellawaye. 15.. Adam Bel st. 99 in Child Ballads (1888) III. 27 Alas that euer I se this daye!..Alas and welawaye. 1553 Bradford Serm. Repentance (1574) E v, But alas and welaway..Gods anger..hath taken him away by death. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 410 Wellaway surely may Purgatory sing, if it have not better Proctour to uphold it, then Luther. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. viii. 46 Harrow and well away [ed. 1609 weal-away]. 1657 W. Rand tr. Gassendi's Life Peiresc ii. 139 Alas and well away. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxxii, There is not a farmer but shall sing well-a-wa over a burnt barnyard and an empty byre. 1820 [A. Sutherland] St. Kathleen IV. 116 Will a waes, man, but ye hae a lang account to sattle. 1878 A. M. F. Robinson Handful Honeysuckle 80 Alas, and Wellaway! |
| ε 13.. K. Alis. 4481 (Laud. MS.) For Oxeatre & Darriadas He grade weleaway & allas. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. (Roxb.) 1958 But weleaway! so is myne hert wo. 1426 Audelay Poems 10 In hunger, in cold, in thrust, weleaway! Afftyr here almes ay waytyng. c 1495 The Epitaffe etc. in Skelton Wks. (1843) II. 391 Alas for sorowe therefore! Oute and weleway. c 1530 Hyckescorner 549 We all may say weleaway For synne that is now-adaye. 1580 H. Gifford Gilloflowers (1875) 101 Her song was woe, and weale away. 1616 W. Browne Brit. Past ii. i. 13 Alas and weale away, since now I stand In such a plight. |
b. with
so or
full prefixed.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 15366–7 He mai sai walawai Full walwa þan mai he sing. Ibid. 22703 Þis midelerth, ful wail wai [Edinb. ful wailewai, Trin. so wayleway], Al to noght sal brin awai. c 1369 Chaucer Bk. Duchesse 729 Phyllis also for Demophon Henge hir selfe, so weylaway. c 1440 York Myst. vi. 24 For vs is wrought, so welaway, Doole endurand nyghte and day. 1513 Douglas æneis vi. i. 52 Quhair⁓in he porturit als, full welloway, The luif abhominable of quene Pasyphe. |
c. followed by
that and clause, expressing the ground or subject of lament.
† Also with
what = how!
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 183 A weilewei, þu fule hold, þat ich auere was to þe iteied. c 1205 Lay. 8031 Wæila wæi wæila wæi Þæt he is þus i-faren awæi. a 1300 Cursor M. 17575 Walawai quat þai war blind. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 6801 (Kölbing) Quaþ king Angvisaunt: Woleway, Þat ich euer bot þis day. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 286 Helas, mi Soster, waileway, That evere I sih this ilke day! c 1440 York Myst. xxxii. 309 So wala way Þat euere I was in witte or wille Þat tristy trewe for to be-traye. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. i. 15 Ah woe is me, and well away (quoth hee)..That euer I this dismall day did see. |
† d. Followed by a
n. = alas for .., woe worth... Also with
to or
for +
n. Obs.| a 1300 K. Horn 956 Walawai þe stunde! Wailaway þe while! 13.. Guy Warw. (1891) 400 Wayle-way þat stounde. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1078 Allas þi wyle Serueth of nought, so wel-awey þe while. Ibid. 1695 But cruel day, so wel-awey þe stounde, Gan for to aproche. c 1400 Emare 812 He wepte and sayde, Welle-a-wey, For my sone so dere! a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 4564 Wailaway to wriches, & wa is ȝow in erthe. c 1440 York Myst. vi. 93 Sa welaway for harde peyne. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sept. 58 Wel-away the while I was so fonde. |
B. n. 1. The utterance of this exclamation. Hence, lamentation, a lament.
| a 1300 K. Horn 1478 (Camb.) He makede Rymenhilde lay, & heo makede walaway. a 1300 Cursor M. 24352 Bot quen i raxsild vp in rage, I ne wist bot wail wai [Gött. walaway, Edinb. walewai]. 1450 Cov. Myst., Cain & Abel 193 Now wyl I go wende my way With sore syeng and wel away. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche 5474 With lowde allace and welaway. 1553 Bradford Serm. Repent. (1574) To Rdr. B ij b, Then was weale away, mourning and woe. 16.. J. D. Mare of Collingtoun in Watson's Collect. Sc. Poems (1706) i. 42 With mony a Shout and Wallaway. 1820 Keats Isabella lxi, Spirits of grief, sing not your ‘Well-a-way!’ For Isabel, sweet Isabel, will die. 1823 Galt Entail II. 160, I wish that I was dead, but I'm no like to dee, as Jenny says in her wally-wae about her father's cow and auld Robin Gray. 1884 Woolner Silenus 22 Syrinx he saw..plunge in the stream And her young spirit pass into the reeds That now were whispering her sad well-away. |
b. transf. A cause of lamentation.
| 1593 G. Harvey New Let. Notable Cont. A 3 b, Who honoureth not..the very name of the renowned Lepanto:..the Halleluia of Christendome, & the Welaway of Turky? |
† 2. Sorrow, distress, misery, woe.
Obs.| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 11222 So, betwyxe fals and coueytous, ys welaweye broȝt to hous. c 1375 Cursor M. 22472 (Fairf.) Quar-to sulde we be borne to-day & se bot sorou & waleway. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 227 Wote no wighte..what is witterly wel til weyllowey hym teche. 1402 Fr. Daw Topias in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 112 Thou shalt have the weleaway of Gelboth hilles, the sorowe of Sodome, and al sinful citeis. 1597 Guistard & Sismond i. B 3 b, Bringing forth the night, and care, and wele-away. 1640 Sir A. Johnston (Ld. Wariston) Diary (S.H.S.) 240 Thou bad sorrou fall the, and another tyme wallouway fall the. |