Alas and Alack

It's rare for current events to creep into an etymology posting.  But in a recent email I used the phrase "Alas and alack" and then realized that I did not know where it came from.

Well.  In each case the "a" is the equivalent of a sigh.  So think of it as (sigh)las and (sigh)lack.

Las comes from the Latin lassus meaning weary or tired. The underused word "lassitude" for laziness, comes directly from the Latin source. Lack is fairly self explanatory, it is a Middle English word meaning "loss, failure, fault, reproach, shame".   

So Alas and Alack means you are tired, weary and feeling a bit short changed.

Related words are surprisingly few.  You'd think there would be other expressions that would be amplified by a preceding (sigh).  There is a rare word "alackaday" that means regret of a day.   And of course from it, "lackadaisical" which is a satiric derivation of same.  Evidently at some point in the 1600's the use of the phrase alackaday became associated with over emoting on a Shatnerian scale.