wending (Old English)

Where does "wending" come from?

The Old English noun 'wending', meaning 'change' or 'translation'[1], is formed from the Old English verb 'wendan', meaning 'to change', combined with the suffix '-ing'[1]. The verb 'wendan' itself derives from Proto-West Germanic '*wandijan' and Proto-Germanic '*wandijaną', meaning 'to make something twist or wind', which functions as a causative form of the root '*windaną', meaning 'to twist'[2].

Open questions

The Proto-Germanic and Proto-West Germanic forms are reconstructed. [2] [5] [7]

Full etymology tree

wending (Old English), 'change'
- derived wendan (Old English), 'to turn'
  - inherited *wandijan (Proto-West Germanic), 'to turn'
    - inherited *wandijaną (Proto-Germanic), 'to turn'
      - derived *windaną (Proto-Germanic), 'to wind, to wrap'
        derived *wendʰ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to wind, to turn'
- suffix -ing (Old English), 'Forming nouns from verbs, indicating action, process or material.'
  - borrowed eng (Old Norse), 'meadow'
    - inherited *angijō (Proto-Germanic), 'A low lying meadow in a valley or near a river'
      - inherited *h₂énkos (Proto-Indo-European), 'curve, bend'
        derived *h₂enk- (Proto-Indo-European), 'curve, bend'
  - inherited *angijō (Proto-Germanic), 'A low lying meadow in a valley or near a river'
    - inherited *h₂énkos (Proto-Indo-European), 'curve, bend'
      - derived *h₂enk- (Proto-Indo-European), 'curve, bend'

Ancestors

wendan (Old English)
ing (Old English)

Sources

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris