The story
- Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*welag“wealthy”
- Old English · inherited fromweliġ
- Middle English · inherited fromwely
- English todaywealy
From Middle English wely, from Old English weliġ, weoliġ, weleġ, from Proto-West Germanic *welag (“wealthy”), equivalent to weal + -y. Cognate with Dutch welig (“luxurious, lavish”), Low German welig (“happy, fortunate”).
Words from the same roots
Old Englishweliġ all →
willowWilloughby
Proto-West Germanic*welag all →
welk
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.