かな

particle

how!; what!; alas!

Archaic sentence-ending particle expressing exclamation, wonder, or lament. Not used in modern spoken Japanese; appears in classical literature, poetry, and set phrases.

• 「ああ、悲かなしいかな」と彼かれは嘆なげいた。

  "Alas, how sad!" he lamented.

• 古こ典てんの授じゅ業ぎょうで「春はる過すぎて夏なつ来くるらし白しろ妙たえの衣ころも干ほしたり天あまの香か具ぐ山やま」の歌うたに「かな」の用よう法ほうを学まなんだ。

  In classical literature class, we learned the usage of かな from the poem "Spring has passed, and summer seems to have come; white robes are being dried on heavenly Mount Kagu."