English
warg
Warg comes from Old Norse vargr ‘wolf’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *werǵʰ- ‘to bind, tie up’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*werǵʰ-1‘to bind, tie up’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wargaz1‘wolf’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350vargr2‘wolf’
- Englishearliest quotation 1937warg2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Old Norse vargr
- 2 Wiktionary, English warg
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1937, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Out of the Frying-pan into the Fire: “But even the wild Wargs (for so the evil…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*werǵʰ-Wiktionary, Old Norse vargr‘to bind, tie up’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wargazWiktionary, Old Norse vargr‘wolf’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350vargrWiktionary, English warg‘wolf’
- Englishearliest quotation 1937wargWiktionary, English warg. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1937, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Out of the Frying-pan into the Fire: “But even the wild Wargs (for so the evil…”
The story
Tolkien; compare also Old English wearg.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *werǵʰ- ‘to bind, tie up’
through Proto-Germanic *wargaz ‘wolf’
Today it means
noun A type of particularly wild or hostile wolf.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “warg”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old Norse vargr. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *werǵʰ- / warg