An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Woge

by Friedrich Kluge

Woge, feminine (with Middle German ô for â, as in Odem, Schlot, Rot, &c.), ‘wave, billow,’ from Middle High German wâc (g), Old High German wâg, neuter, ‘water in commotion, flood, billow, stream, river, sea’; compare Old Saxon wâg, Anglo-Saxon wœ̂g, Gothic wégs, ‘billow, flood.’ From Old High German is derived French vague. Teutonic wêgo-, wêgi-, from pre-Teutonic wêgho-, wêghi-, is connected with the Aryan root wē̆gh, ‘to move’; hence Woge, literally ‘motion, that which is moved.’