wundorlic

• wunderlīc, wunderlīċ

From Proto-West Germanic *wundralīk, from Proto-Germanic *wundralīkaz. Cognate with Old Saxon wundarlīk, Old High German wuntarlīh. Equivalent to wundor +‎ -līċ.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwun.dorˌliːk/, /ˈwun.dorˌliːt͡ʃ/

wundorlīc, wundorlīċ

1. wonderful
   • 10th century, Exeter Book Riddle 24‎^[1]:

     Iċ eom wunderlicu wiht, wrǣsne mīne stefne, hwīlum beorce swā hund, hwīlum blǣte swā gāt, hwīlum grǣde swā gōs, hwīlum ġielle swā hafoc,…

     I am a wonderful thing, twist my voice, sometimes bark like a hound, sometimes bleat like a goat, sometimes cry like a goose, sometimes yell like a hawk,…

   • c. 1000, Ælfric of Eynsham (tr.), Hexameron of St. Basil:

     Hwæt ðā God ġeworhte ðurh his wunderlīċan mihte eall nytencynn on heora cynrynum, and ðā wildan dēor ðe on wudum eardiað, and eall ðæt fīðerfōte byð of ðǣre foresǣdan eorðan, and eall wyrmcynn ðā ðe crēopende bēoð, and ðā reðan lēon, ðe hēr on lande ne bēoð, and ðā swiftan tigres, and ðā syllican pardes, and ðā eġeslīċan beran, and ðā ormǣtan ylpas.

     Then, through his wonderful might, God created all the kinds of animals according to their kinds, and the wild animals that dwell in the woods, and all the four-footed creatures of the aforementioned earth, and all the kinds of creeping worms, and the savage lions, which do not live here, and the swift tigers, and the marvelous leopards, and the fearful bears, and the huge elephants.

2. miraculous

• wundorlīċe

• Middle English: wunderlic, wunnderrlik, wunderlich, wonderly
  • English: wonderly
  • Scots: wonderlie

• Joseph Bosworth, T. Northcote Toller (1898) “wundorlíc”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.