I stub my toe, and involuntarily tell “Ow!” But a Spanish speaker would say “Ay!” and a German would say “Autsch!” How long have English speakers been saying ow, and how did these splits emerge? | AskHistorians Archive Observer

I stub my toe, and involuntarily tell “Ow!” But a Spanish speaker would say “Ay!” and a German would say “Autsch!” How long have English speakers been saying ow, and how did these splits emerge?

by ZnSaucier

ghanima

Just so you know, this was cross-posted in /r/linguistics and there are some responses there.