The story
- Proto-Indo-European · derived from*werǵʰ-“bind, squeeze”
- Proto-Germanic · inherited from*wurgijaną
- Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*wurgijan
- Old English · inherited fromwyrġan
- Middle English · inherited fromworien“to choke, strangle”
- English todayworry
From Middle English worien (“to choke, strangle”), from Old English wyrġan, from Proto-West Germanic *wurgijan, from Proto-Germanic *wurgijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *werǵʰ- (“bind, squeeze”). Cognate with Dutch worgen, wurgen, German würgen. Compare Latin urgere (“to press, push”), Sanskrit वृहति (vṛhati, “to tear out, pluck”), Lithuanian ver̃žti (“to string; squeeze”), Russian (poetic) отверза́ть (otverzátʹ, “to open”, literally “to untie”). Related to wring.
Words from the same roots
Proto-Indo-European*werǵʰ- all →
urgent
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.