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Origin and history of ah

ah(interj.)

mid-15c., an expression of surprise, delight, disgust, or pain in nearly all Indo-European languages, but not found in Old English (where the equivalent expression was la!), so perhaps from Old French a "ah!, oh! woe!"

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to ah

ach(interj.)

aspirated form of ah; in English often used in representations of German or Celtic speech.

a-ha(interj.)

also aha, exclamation of surprise or delighted discovery, late 14c., from ah + ha.

This seely widewe and hire doughtres two ... cryden out "harrow!" and "weloway! A ha! þe fox!" and after him they ran [Chaucer]
ow(interj.)

14c. as an exclamation of surprise; by 1895 as an expression of sudden pain. Compare oh, ah, ouch.

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    ha-ha
    Sometimes interchanged with ah and expressing surprise, distress, etc....was "an obstacle interrupting one's way sharply and disagreeably;" so called because it "surprizes ... and makes one cry Ah...Ah!" [Alexander Le Blond, "The Theory and Practice of Gardening," 1712]....
    consecrate
    Ah, what avails the sceptred race!      Ah, what the form divine!...
    prudery
    Ah! poor fantastic age, I pity thee....
    brute
    True, he murdered half a village, so his own death came to pass; Still, for size and beauty, cunning, courage—ah, the brute...
    ash
    ask, Middle Dutch esce, German Esche), from PIE root *os- "ash tree" (source also of Armenian haci "ash tree," Albanian ah...
    melt
    Ah, Vera, What is the glory of Rome and Jerusalem where all nations and races come to worship and look back, compared with...
    sufficient
    "adequate for a purpose, enough," early 14c., from Old French soficient "satisfactory," or directly from Latin sufficientem (nominative sufficiens) "adequate," present participle of sufficere "to supply as a substitute," from sub "up to" (see sub-) + combining form of facere "to
    echo
    mid-14c., "sound repeated by reflection," from Latin echo, from Greek ēkhō, personified in classical mythology as a mountain nymph who pined away for love of Narcissus until nothing was left of her but her voice, from or related to ēkhē "sound," ēkhein "to resound," from PIE *wag
    Egypt
    Old English Egipte "the Egyptians," from French Egypte, from Greek Aigyptos "the river Nile, Egypt," from Amarna Hikuptah, corresponding to Egyptian Ha(t)-ka-ptah "temple of the soul of Ptah," the creative god associated with Memphis, the ancient city of Egypt. Strictly one of th
    giant
    c. 1300, "fabulous man-like creature of enormous size," from Old French geant, earlier jaiant "giant, ogre" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *gagantem (nominative gagas), from Latin gigas "a giant," from Greek Gigas (usually in plural, Gigantes), one of a race of divine but savage and m

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