Etymology

wylle + OE -sum; cp. also OIcel villusamr, ‘erroneous, false’ (see ONP for unique occurrence).

PGmc Ancestor

*welþja-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

villr ‘wild; bewildered, erring, astray’
(ONP villusamr (adj.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far villur, Icel villur, Norw vill, ODan willær, wild(ær), Dan vild, OSw vildær, Sw vill, vild

OE Cognate

wilde 'wild, untamed, uncontrolled' 

Phonological and morphological markers

ON consonant cluster assimilation

Summary category

A1*c

Attestation

Mainly N and E in ME, but also (a1387) Trev. Higd.(StJ-C H.1) 7.95; modern (obsol.) Sc.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 689, WA 4076, 5565

OED (sense 1) glosses ‘Leading astray as through wild and desolate regions; hence, desert, lonely and wild; dreary’ (and see Wright 1935: 349-50 and further PSn).

Bibliography

MED wilsom (adj.1) , OED wilsome (adj.1) , HTOED , EDD wilsome (adj.), Dance wylsum, Bj. 170