† warianglen.

Etymology: ? Old English weargincel shrike (Sweet: authority not known). Compare Old High German (Middle High German) warchengil , wargengel , wargingel , etc. ‘cruricula’, etc. (Steinmeyer-Sievers, Diefenbach), German wargengel , warkengel (with very many local variants due to different etymologizing alterations; as würgengel ‘destroying angel’). Compare also Middle Low German worgel , Old High German (Middle High German) wargil , warigel , wergil , worgel (Bavarian dialect wörgl shrike, Salzburg wörgel greenfinch). All these forms appear to be diminutives of Old Germanic *wargo-z murderer: see wary n.The Old English word, if genuine, perhaps preserves most nearly the original form. For the suffix compare Old English húsincel , túnincel , þéowincel , etc. (all without umlaut). Compare Old High German -inklî(n . It remains, however, very remarkable that in German or in later English there is no trace of -k forms with the single exception of warwinckle in quot. 1618 at sense 1. As there is no evidence of the word later until Chaucer, the Middle English and later forms are perhaps in part due to, or influenced by, some continental form. The prevalent form of the ending, -angle , -ingle , is perhaps partly due to association with hang v. (owing to the habits of the shrike). In early times the first element would assist this etymology: compare Old English weargtréo , warytre n. gallows. Such an association was apparently present in early German: compare such forms as wurgelhâch, wurgelhâhe, warchengil, warkengel, etc.