The story
- Middle English · inherited fromunweldy
- English todayunwieldy
From Middle English unweldy, equivalent to un- + wieldy. Cognate with Old Frisian unweldich, unweldech (“having no power, involuntary”), Middle Dutch onweldich (“having no control or mastery over”), Middle Low German unweldich (“unwieldy”). Compare also Old High German unwaltīg (“powerless”), whence Middle High German unwaltic, German ungewaltig (“powerless, unmighty”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.