adj.
Cl, Pat, Erk wrange
'evil, perverted; wrong; (in the) wrong'
(Modern English wrong)Usually derived from the ON adj., cp. early OIcel vrangr ‘awry, not straight; wrong, unjust, unrighteous’ and Norw vrang, Sw vrång, Dan vrang, next to other forms with loss of initial /w/ (later OIcel and Icel rangr, Far rangur, Norw rang), which is generally taken as a formation on the a-grade of the PGmc st. v. *wrengan- ‘to ring, twist, etc.’ (cp. OE wringan, WFris wringe, OS -wringan, OHG ringan) and thus as originally denoting the state of being bent or crooked. The verbal root *wrang- is very common in WGmc, and a number of scholars are sceptical about the need to adduce ON input in order to explain an English adjectival formation thereon (see further SPS). Moreover if late OE wrangan (wk. dat. sg.) (Ch 496) and wrangwīse (AldV 13.1) ‘rough, uneven’ are native words and cognate with MLG wrank, wrange, MDu wranc ‘sour, sharp, bitter’, the argument in favour of Norse input into the development of ME wrang is weakened, with the difference between an OE *wrang ‘rough’ and ME wrang ‘wrong’ having to do only with the acquisition of a figurative sense as in ON.
PGmc Ancestor
*wrang-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
vrangr, rangr ‘awry, not straight; wrong, unjust, unrighteous’
(ONP rangr (adj.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far rangur, Icel rangr, Norw vrang, rang, Dan vrang, Sw vrång
OE Cognate
?wrang (adj.) 'rough, uneven'
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
C1
A n. wrang ‘wrong, injustice’ is first attested in late OE (see Hofmann §281, Peters 91, SPS), and is common and widespread throughout ME (see MED). The adj. is less frequent in medieval English; it is first known in Orrm, but otherwise rare in MED (outside documentary sources) before the 14c.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 1494; Cl 268; Pat 384; Erk 236