Etymology
1. O.E.
wurm, variant of
wyrm "serpent, dragon," also in later O.E. "earthworm," from P.Gmc.
*wurmiz (cf. O.S., O.H.G., Ger.
wurm, O.Fris., Du.
worm, O.N.
ormr, Goth.
waurms "serpent, worm"), from PIE
*wrmi-/*wrmo- "worm" (cf. Gk.
rhomos, L.
vermis "worm," O.Rus.
vermie "insects," Lith.
varmas "insect, gnat"), possibly from base
*wer- "turn" (see versus). The ancient category of these was much more extensive than the modern, scientific, one and included serpents, scorpions, maggots, and the supposed causes of certain diseases. In Eng., the
-o- was a scribal substitution to avoid confusion of
-u- and
-r- (as also in
some, come, monk etc.). As an insult meaning "abject, miserable person" it dates from O.E. The verb meaning "to move like a worm" is recorded from 1610, in fig. senses (attested from 1627) suggesting patient, sinuous progress.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Germanic *wurmiz
4. Proto-West Germanic *wurmi
5. Old English wyrm
6. Middle English worm
7. English worm
8. From Middle English werm, wirm, worm, worme, wrim, wurm, wyrm, wyrme, from Old English weorm, wurm, wyrm, from Proto-West Germanic *wurmi, from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz (“worm; snake”), from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis (“worm; larva”), possibly from *wer- (“to turn”). Doublet of vermin and wyrm, the latter of which is a fairly recent borrowing directly from the Old English.
9. (computing): First computer usage by John Brunner in his 1975 book The Shockwave Rider.
10. Cognates
11. Germanic cognates include North Frisian wörem, wörm, Würem (“worm”), Saterland Frisian Wurm, Wúurm (“worm”), West Frisian wjirm (“worm”), Alemannic German Wüüre (“worm”), Cimbrian bórm (“worm”), burm (“snake”), Dutch worm, wurm (“worm”), German Gewürm (“vermin”), Wurm (“worm”), Low German Worm (“worm”), Luxembourgish Wuerm (“worm”), Mòcheno burm (“snake”), Vilamovian vūəm, wüm (“worm”), Yiddish וואָרעם (vorem, “worm”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish orm (“worm”), Faroese and Icelandic ormur (“worm”), Norwegian Nynorsk orm (“worm”), yrme, yrmle (“female snake with offspring”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌼𐍃 (waurms, “snake”), Kildin Sami уррьм (urr’m, “gadfly larva”), Skolt Sami uʹrmm (“gadfly larva”).
12. Indo-European cognates include Latin vermis (“worm”), Ancient Greek ῥόμοξ (rhómox), ῥόμος (rhómos, “woodworm”), Albanian rrime (“rainworm”). See: Alemannic German '
Wüüre'.