Etymograph

English

wag

Wag comes from Middle English waggen ‘to move to and fro, up and down’, from Old English wagian ‘to wag, wave, shake’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to drag, carry’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵʰ-1‘to drag, carry’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wagōną2‘to move, stir, sway’uncertain
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wagōn2uncertain
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wagian3‘to wag, wave, shake’next step skipped: Old Norse vaga
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500waggen3‘to move to and fro, up and down’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1598–1600wag3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *wagōną
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English wagian
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English wag
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, As You Like It: “"Thus we may see," quoth he, "how the world…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵʰ-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *wagōną‘to drag, carry’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wagōnąWiktionary, Old English wagian‘to move, stir, sway’uncertain
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wagōnWiktionary, Old English wagianuncertain
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wagianWiktionary, English wag‘to wag, wave, shake’next step skipped: Old Norse vaga
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500waggenWiktionary, English wag‘to move to and fro, up and down’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1598–1600wagWiktionary, English wag. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, As You Like It: “"Thus we may see," quoth he, "how the world…”

The story

The verb may be regarded as an iterative or emphatic form of waw (verb), which is often nearly synonymous; it was used, e.g., of a loose tooth. Parallel formations from the same root are the Old Norse vagga feminine, cradle (Swedish vagga, Danish vugge), Swedish vagga (‘to rock a cradle’), vugge (‘to rock a cradle’), Dutch wagen (‘to move’), early modern German waggen (dialectal German wacken) to waver, totter.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to drag, carry’

always, way, via, vehicle, reveal, wave, vector, weigh, wee, vein, halfway, veil, wedge, wagon, venous, vex, wonky, eunuch, headway, vena, wey, invective, velar, wain, 40 more

through Proto-West Germanic *wagōn

vogue

through Old English wagian ‘to wag, wave, shake’

waw

Today it means

verb To swing from side to side, as an animal's tail, or someone's head to express disagreement or disbelief.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “wag”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *wagōną, Old English wagian. 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- / wag

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