"Yay long"

[Victor Steinbok]

[Tried to send earlier but don't see it posted] I've always interpreted
"yay X" as folksy mock-Scots, an indefinite version of "wee" (OED traces
it as NoME "wei/wege"). The problem with that interpretation is that OED
does list "yay" as US slang.

> Etymology: Probably < yea adv.
> U.S. slang.
> In phrases yay big (or yay high), ‘this big’, ‘this high’: freq.
> accompanied by a gesture indicating the size intended.

The only examples are 1960 Dictionary of American Slang (hence the
designation), a 1972 quote by T. Kochman and a 1978 quote from Paul
Theroux (combined with such folksy stuff as "a daughter of mine" and
"jackass", but it's Theroux, after all).

Now, mock-Irish is a different matter, as it seems close to [beta]
listing under one adj., n., and pron. For those who want to mine this
particular connection, here's the de-styled listing:

> β. ME a (early and north.), ME ai (north.), 18-- ae (Irish English);
> Eng. regional (north.) 17 yaw, 17 yea, 17-- ae, 17-- ea, 17-- yaa, 18
> aa, 18-- ya, 18-- yah; Sc. pre-17 a, pre-17 ea, pre-17 17 ya, pre-17
> 17-- ae, 17 yee, 17-- yae, 18 eae, 18 ya', 18 yea, 18-- a'e, 18-- yeh,
> 19-- ee (Shetland).

I'm not sure, but I wonder if this is where Wiki gets its
PIE/Proto-Germanic connection.

VS-)

On 9/28/2013 7:09 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
> Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yea) traces this back to OE, =
> then Proto-Germanic and PIE, undifferentiated from "yea" meaning yes.
>
> The OED speculates that "yay" comes from "yea."
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Seattle, WA

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