wander

The story

1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*wandarōn“to wander”
2. Old English · inherited fromwandrian“to wander, roam, fly around, hover; change; stray, err”
3. Middle English · inherited fromwandren
4. English todaywander

From Middle English wandren, from Old English wandrian (“to wander, roam, fly around, hover; change; stray, err”), from Proto-West Germanic *wandarōn (“to wander”), from *wandōn (“to turn, change”) + *-rōn (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Scots wander (“to wander”), German wandern (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Dutch wandelen (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Danish vandre (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Swedish vandra (“to wander, hike”).