Woge

Meaning

water wave

Gender

♀️ Feminine

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈvoːɡə/

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.