ETYMOLOGY
from way (a track, a road, a path) + leader
EXAMPLE
“…who shall perfeitely accomplyshe and fulfyll the lawe in the right kynde as it ought to be, but thy sonne beeyng as a waye leader vnto the heauenly preaching of thissame Messias, shall prepare the heartes of menne, that he may deliuer vp vnto Messias at his cumming…”
From: The First Tome or Volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testamente
– Erasmus, Desiderius
– Translated by Nicholas Udall et al, 1548
Lexicophilia 