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They seem interchangeable when used in the meaning of conveying disbelief of something.

まさかこの時点でやめる気じゃないよね？　
よもやこの時点でやめる気じゃないよね？

Chocolate
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shoryuu
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2 Answers2

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When まさか and よもや are used as negative polarity items, they are basically interchangeable, but よもや is more literary and less common. In casual speech, まさか is normally used. A negation like ないだろう, あるまい, 思わなかった or 訳がない will follow, but this part is often omitted.

  • {まさか/よもや}彼女が女王ではないだろう。
  • {まさか/よもや}君がいるとは(思わなかった)。
  • 彼も{まさか/よもや}そんなことは言わないでしょう。

まさか is also often used like an interjection, but よもや is almost never used like this. We say "まさかー(笑)" ("No way! LoL") but never "よもやー(笑)". As an interjection, まさか means "Could it be...!? / By any chance ...!?" or "It couldn't be! / No way!" depending on the context and the intonation.

  • まさか、殺したのは俺なのか…？
    Could it be...me who killed him?
naruto
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  • まさか < 真逆
  • よもや < よも(東西南北)+や
  • もしや >　もしかして
  • ひょっとして　< ひょっと(突然)

These are all interchangeable in general.

まさか implies 'you put the thing upside down now' and よもや implies 'against everywhere and everybody'

  • Thank you. Although I have difficulty understanding what stuff like よもや < よも(東西南北)+や is supposed to mean. Add in a cardinal direction for...? – shoryuu May 11 '20 at 18:00
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    よも is Old Japanese. もしや is middle and もしかして is modern Japanese. `>` is an arrow, means 'from-to', 'made of' or 'related to'. A > B means B is made of A. I do not remember which English dictionary uses this mark to show the etymology, Japanese people like this arrow mark a lot. –  May 11 '20 at 22:24
  • I see thank you! – shoryuu May 13 '20 at 19:45