[1580–90; (earlier) wild, awkward, bewildered, deriv. of Scots, dial. will gone astray, perplexed (ME ‹ ON villr), perh. with -ard, though formation is unclear; later influenced by will2 and wayward]This word is first recorded in the period 1580–90. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: academic, cockpit, critical, mandarin, scramble