Many old words, such as “fortnight” or “swashbuckle,” sound as they are. But some words that sound modern are surprisingly old.
Scottish actor and writer Kenny Boyle shared that the word “wow” has been around a lot longer than people might think. While it may sound like slang from the 20th century, it actually dates back over 500 years to Scotland.
“This is one of those anachronistic things,” Boyle said in a TikTok video. “If you were to read a historical fiction or something like that, and one of the characters were to say ‘Wow!’ you’d probably think, ‘Well, that’s weird. That’s a very modern word, isn’t it?’ The answer is actually no, at least not in Scotland.”
We first see the written use of “wow” in 1513
Boyle explained that “wow” dates to the 1500s and meant basically the same thing it does now: an expression of disbelief or surprise.
Babbel notes that the first known written use of “wow” appeared in 1513 in a Scottish English translation of Virgil’s Aeneid. The exact quote is, “Out on thir wanderand spiritis, wow! thow cryis.” It was possibly a modification (or perhaps even a typo) of the exclamation “Vow!”, which was an intensified version of “I vow!”
“Wow” doesn’t really have a meaning in and of itself, but is rather a natural exclamation. The “W” sound is one of the easiest sounds to make, so we find natural exclamations similar to “wow” across different languages.
Facial expressions also play a role
Babbel explains that many natural exclamations relate to the facial expressions people make. “The facial expression associated with shock or surprise is an open, rounded mouth, which happens to coincide with how a human pronounces ‘wow,’” the video states.
Other exclamations (also known as emotive interjections) that seem to coincide with facial expressions include “Ow!” and “Ouch!”, as well as “Yay!” and “Hooray!”
“Hooray” and “hurrah” are thought to be modifications of “huzzah” or “huzza,” which we probably recognize as old terms. But interestingly enough, “wow” is even older than “huzzah.” (Not by much, but still surprising.)
How “wow” became an everyday English exclamation
According to Babbel, “wow” was commonly used by the 19th century, but it really took hold in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1920, however, “wow” was used as a noun, as in “This song is a wow.” Today, “wow” is rarely used as a noun but is often used as a verb. For example, “I was wowed by that song.”
A more obscure meaning of “wow” from the 1930s referred to pitch distortions in audio recordings. But by far the most common usage today is simply the emotive interjection “Wow!”
And then there’s always the sarcastic use of the word as well: “Wow. That’s really interesting.” Just changing the punctuation to periods instead of exclamation points gives it a whole different flavor.
Thank you, 16th-century Scotland, for such a useful exclamation.
You can follow Kenny Boyle on TikTok for more fun Scottish history and etymology.
