Language Of Confusion: Verse, Part VIII

Yet another part in our look at words descended from the Proto Indo European wer-, to turn or bend. These ones all start with “wr”.
 
First, a word that I believe I mentioned before: wrist. It comes from the Old English wrist, so no big changes in recent history, and before that the Proto Germanic wristiz. That’s from the Proto Indo European wreik-, to turn, from wer-, because wrists turn and bend.
 
Next is wrinkle, which… I guess I can see it. It showed up in the early fifteenth century and is thought to be from the Old English word gewrinclod, wrinkled, crooked, or winding, and it would be so stupid if it isn’t related to wrinkle, and so typical of etymology. Anyway, that’s from wrinclian, to wind, from the Proto Germanic wrankjan, from wergh-, another word I’ve mentioned in previous weeks as being related to wer-. I mean, wrinkles are kind of turns, when something gets all bunched up, the surface is turning.
 
Then there’s wreath, from the Old English wriða, a bandage or band, or a fillet. Um, yeah, it didn’t mean wreath at first, but then in the mid sixteenth century, it started to be used to mean a garland, which makes sense, a wreath “turns” in a circle. It’s from the Proto Germanic writh-, from the Proto Indo European wreit-, to turn or bend, another offshoot of wer-. But seriously, fillet???
 
Because things can always get weirder, there’s wrath. It comes from the Old English wraeþþu, wrath, from wroð, anger or wroth. Wroth is actually the earlier word, from the Proto Germanic wraith- (which is NOT related to wraith), while wrath is actually wraith- plus the Proto Germanic suffix -itho, which is actually the ending for words like strength and depth. So wrath is wroth-th. Anyway, wraith- is from wreit-, which is from wer-, and there’s no real explanation as to how turning changed into anger. Maybe because anger is turned against someone?
 
Finally today is wrong of all words. It actually meant twisted or crooked in Old English, and then in the fourteenth century became what we know it as because it was used to mean the opposite of right, which also meant straight. Wrong is actually from the Old Norse rangr/vrangr, from the Proto Germanic wrang-. That’s from wrengh-, a variant of wergh-, from wer-. Wrong is wrong because it is twisted, and right means straight.
 
Sources
Online Etymology Dictionary
Omniglot
University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center
University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language
Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English
Old English-English Dictionary

Language of Confusion: Feeling Mad

Today we’re looking at the origins for words of angry feelings because why not?

Anger

Anger showed up in the early thirteenth century as a verb and then as a noun in the mid thirteenth century, but back then it meant more to annoy or to be in anguish rather than how we use anger, which didn’t start until a century later. The noun is from the Old Norse angr (cool word, right?) and the verb angra, both of which are closer to the annoy/distress definition anger used to have. Both Norse words come from the Proto Germanic angus, which comes from the ProtoIndo European angh-, painfully constricted. Interesting how it didn’t change definitions until so much later. At least this one kind of makes sense.

Mad

Now, mad has two meanings, one meaning insane and one meaning angry. The insane one showed up first, in the late thirteenth century, and then in the early fourteenth century it started to mean “beside oneself with excitement” and then “beside oneself with anger”. Apparently replaced an Old English word for mad, wod, which was also spelled wood. And before you ask, no it’s not related to trees in any way. Going back to mad, it comes from the Old English gemaedde, out of one’s mind or foolish/stupid. That word comes from the Proto Germanic ga-maid-jan and ga-mai-az, abnormal. The ga- part is an intensive prefix, while the rest comes from the Proto Indo European moito, the past participle of mei­-, to change. So change became abnormal became insane became angry. Sure. Why not.

Fury

Fury showed up in the late fourteenth century, coming from the Old French furie/fuire, rage or fenzy, and classical Latin furia, fury. Yes, it’s related to the mythological furies, but no, there’s no real explanation as to why. The word is erinyes in Greek, where it comes from. Not an f in sight! Anyway, furia has a verb form in furere, which can mean rage or even heat. But don’t go thinking that word is related to fire or anything. No, fire comes from a word that starts with p.

Rage

Rage of course also has some weirdness to it. It actually showed up in the mid thirteenth century meaning play or romp, which is especially weird because pretty much everywhere else it has its standard definition. It comes from the Old French rage/raige and before that the Medieval Latin rabia and classical Latin rabies, which explains where that word came from. Although not why it has a g in it.

Wrath

And now, to finish things off, wrath. It comes from the Old English wraeððu (not just one eth, but two!), anger, and wrað, angry. That word can also be traced to the Proto Germanic wraith-, and before you ask, no, that isn’t where wraith comes from. Don’t go expecting etymology to start making sense. The Proto Germanic wraith- actually comes from the Proto Indo European wreit, to turn. The origin word for wreath.

TL;DR: Seriously words. What the f**k?

Sources

Online Etymology Dictionary

Google Translate

Dictionary of Medieval Latin

Omniglot

University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center

University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language

Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English
Mental Floss