Woge

See also: woge and wöge

German

Alternative forms

• Wooge (obsolete)

Etymology

With dialectal -ā- → -ō- from northern Middle High German wāge (“wave”), borrowed from Middle Low German wāge (“wave”). The latter form could be a mere alteration of the rare masculine Middle Low German wāch (“stormy sea”), from Old Saxon wāg (“stormy sea”), from Proto-West Germanic *wāg, from Proto-Germanic *wēgaz (which see for cognates); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to transport, bring”).

However, the feminine may also go back to an unattested Old Saxon *waga (with a short vowel), from Proto-Germanic *wagō (or similar), related with Proto-Germanic *wagjaną (“to move, shake”) (which is from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ-). The evidence for this is Middle High German wage (“movement, shaking”), from Old High German waga (“movement”). In Middle Low German and Middle Dutch, this feminine noun would have widely merged with the aforementioned wāch, wāg per open-syllable lengthening.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvoːɡə/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oːɡə

Noun

Woge f (genitive Woge, plural Wogen)

1. (chiefly literary) water wave

   Synonym: Welle

   • 1827, Heinrich Heine, “Die Heimkehr”, in Buch der Lieder [Book of Songs]‎^[1], Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe:

     Der Abend kommt gezogen, / Der Nebel bedeckt die See; / Geheimnisvoll rauschen die Wogen, / Da steigt es weiß in die Höh.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

Declension of Woge [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Woge	die	Wogen
genitive	einer	der	Woge	der	Wogen
dative	einer	der	Woge	den	Wogen
accusative	eine	die	Woge	die	Wogen

Derived terms

• die Wogen glätten
• wogen

Related terms

• Woog

Further reading

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