Etymograph

English

voe

Voe comes from Old Norse vágr ‘inlet, bay’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to bring’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵʰ-1‘to bring’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
  2. Old Norsec. 800–1350vágr1‘inlet, bay’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1822voe1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English voe
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1822, Walter Scott, Robinson: “The power thou dost covet / O'er tempest and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵʰ-Wiktionary, English voe‘to bring’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
  2. Old Norsec. 800–1350vágrWiktionary, English voe‘inlet, bay’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1822voeWiktionary, English voe. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1822, Walter Scott, Robinson: “The power thou dost covet / O'er tempest and…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to bring’

way, always, via, vehicle, wave, reveal, halfway, vector, weigh, wagon, wee, vein, veil, wedge, vogue, headway, wag, venous, vex, wonky, eunuch, vena, wey, invective, waw, wain, velar, 39 more

Today it means

noun A narrow sea inlet, particularly in the Shetland Islands, similar to a fjord.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “voe”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- / voe

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