Abbreviation ofEnglishYerava.
yea
- (international standards)ISO 639-3language code forRavula.
FromMiddle Englishye,ȝea,ya,ȝa, fromOld Englishġēa,iā(“yea, yes”), fromProto-West Germanic*jā.
The modern pronunciation shows an irregular development of Early Modern English/ɛː/ to/eɪ/ in the standard language, probably from association with the antonymnay.
yea (notcomparable)(dated)
- Yes,indeed.
- 1597–1598,Joseph Hall,Virgidemiarum
- Yea, and the prophet of the heav'nly lyre, / Great Solomon sings in the English quire […]
1902, John Buchan,The Outgoing of the Tide:Let no man say that the Devil is not a cruel tyrant. He may give his folk some scrapings of unhallowed pleasure, but he will exact tithes,yea, of anise and cummin, in return, and there is aye the reckoning to pay at the hinder end.
1913,Norman Lindsay,A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published1932, page120:Something of the curate's aptitude for abasement came to him at that moment, and he wept,yea, holding with both hands to Miss Gimblet, inhis grief he wept aloud, while Miss Gimblet wipedhis countenance with her handkerchief and wept a little, too.
- (Midwestern American English)Thus,so (now often accompanied by a hand gesture by way of measurement).
"The pony was aboutyea high," he explained, holding out his hand, palm down, roughly level with his chin.
yea
- (archaic) Oreven, or more like,nay.Introduces a stronger and more appropriate expression than the preceding one.
1604, Jeremy Corderoy,A Short Dialogve, wherein is Proved, that No Man can be Saved without Good VVorkes, 2nd edition, Oxford: Printed by Ioseph Barnes, and are to be sold inPaules Church-yard at the signe of the Crowne, by Simon Waterson,→OCLC,page40:[N]ow ſuch a liue vngodly, vvithout a care of doing the wil of the Lord (though they profeſſe him in their mouths,yea though they beleeue and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed,yea haue knowledge of the Scripturs) yet if they liue vngodly, they deny God, and therefore ſhal be denied,[…]
- (with modern spelling) [N]ow such a life ungodly, without a care of doing the will of the Lord (though they profess him in their mouths,yea though they believe and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed,yea have knowledge of the Scriptures) yet if they live ungodly, they deny God, and therefore shall be denied
c.1633,John Donne,The Flea:O stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost,yea, more than married are.
yea
- (in some dialects of American English, including Southern, Western, and African American Vernacular)Yeah,right,yes.
yea (pluralyeas)
- Anaffirmativevote, usually but not always spoken
- Antonym:nay
2009 January 6, “Still Broken After All These Years”, inThe New York Times[3], archived fromthe original on26 January 2018:Recently senators could fax in theiryeas or nays to the committee chairman.
Fromyeah.
yea
- (nonstandard, proscribed)Alternative spelling ofyeah.
Seeyay.
yea
- Misspelling ofyay.
- ^Jespersen, Otto (1909),A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)[1], volume I: Sounds and Spellings,London:George Allen & Unwin, published1961,§ 11.75,page339.
- ^Dobson, E[ric] J. (1957),English pronunciation 1500-1700[2], second edition, volume II: Phonology,Oxford:Clarendon Press, published1968,→OCLC,§ 115,page625: “Yea has eModEIPA(key):[iː] beside from MEẹ̄ beside MEę̄ (see § 119).”
yea
- alternative form ofyee
1867,CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page114, lines21-23:Ye pace——yea, we mai zei, ye vaste pace whilke bee ee-stent owr ye londe zince th'ast ee-cam,- The peace——yes, we may say the profound peace—which overspreads the land since your arrival,
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor,A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published1867,page114
