yea

Translingual

Etymology

Abbreviation of English Yerava.

Symbol

yea

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Ravula.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Ravula terms

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English ye, ȝea, ya, ȝa, from Old English ġēa, iā (“yea, yes”), from Proto-West Germanic *jā.

The modern pronunciation shows an irregular development of Early Modern English /ɛː/ to /eɪ/ in the standard language, probably from association with the antonym nay.

Pronunciation

• enPR: yā, IPA^(key): /jeɪ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -eɪ
  • Homophones: yay, Ye
• (obsolete) enPR: yī, IPA^(key): /jiː/
• (Early Modern) IPA^(key): /jiː/, /jɛː/

Adverb

yea (not comparable) (dated)

1. Yes, indeed.
   • 1597–1598, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarum

     Yea, and the prophet of the heav'nly lyre, / Great Solomon sings in the English quire […]

   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     Let no man say that the Devil is not a cruel tyrant. He may give his folk some scrapings of unhallowed pleasure, but he will exact tithes, yea, of anise and cummin, in return, and there is aye the reckoning to pay at the hinder end.

   • 1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 120:

     Something of the curate's aptitude for abasement came to him at that moment, and he wept, yea, holding with both hands to Miss Gimblet, in his grief he wept aloud, while Miss Gimblet wiped his countenance with her handkerchief and wept a little, too.

2. (Midwestern US) Thus, so (now often accompanied by a hand gesture by way of measurement).
   • 2016, Stranger Things, season 1, episode 2, spoken by Hopper, Earl (David Harbour, David Dwyer):

     This kid... What'd he look like? / Well, he was about yea high. You know, tiny like. I didn't get a good look at him, though. He was back in the kitchen.

Synonyms

• (yes): aye, yep, yes, yup, yeah, yigh (when contradicting)

Antonyms

• nay
• no

Conjunction

yea

1. (archaic) Or even, or more like, nay. Introduces a stronger and more appropriate expression than the preceding one.
   • 1604, Jeremy Corderoy, A Short Dialogve, wherein is Proved, that No Man can be Saved without Good VVorkes, 2nd edition, Oxford: Printed by Ioseph Barnes, and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Crowne, by Simon Waterson, →OCLC, page 40:

     [N]ow ſuch a liue vngodly, vvithout a care of doing the wil of the Lord (though they profeſſe him in their mouths, yea though they beleeue and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed, yea haue knowledge of the Scripturs) yet if they liue vngodly, they deny God, and therefore ſhal be denied, […]

     • (with modern spelling) [N]ow such a life ungodly, without a care of doing the will of the Lord (though they profess him in their mouths, yea though they believe and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed, yea have knowledge of the Scriptures) yet if they live ungodly, they deny God, and therefore shall be denied
   • c. 1633, John Donne, The Flea:

     O stay, three lives in one flea spare,
     Where we almost, yea, more than married are.

Interjection

yea

1. (Southern US, Western US, African-American Vernacular) Yeah, right, yes.

Noun

yea (plural yeas)

1. An affirmative vote, usually but not always spoken

   Synonym: aye

   Antonym: nay

   • 2009 January 6, “Still Broken After All These Years”, in The New York Times‎^[3], archived from the original on 26 January 2018:

     Recently senators could fax in their yeas or nays to the committee chairman.

Etymology 2

From yeah.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjɛ(ə)/, /ˈjæ(ə)/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə

Interjection

yea

1. (nonstandard, proscribed) Alternative spelling of yeah.

Etymology 3

See yay.

Pronunciation

• enPR: yā, IPA^(key): /jeɪ/

Interjection

yea

1. Misspelling of yay.

Anagrams

• Aye, aye, yae

Yola

Adverb

yea

1. alternative form of yee
   • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 114, lines 21-23:

     Ye pace——yea, we mai zei, ye vaste pace whilke bee ee-stent owr ye londe zince th'ast ee-cam,

     The peace——yes, we may say the profound peace—which overspreads the land since your arrival,

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 114