Online Etymology Dictionary

wake (n.2): "state of wakefulness," Old English -wacu (as in nihtwacu "night watch"), related to watch; and partly from Old Norse vaka "vigil, eve before a feast," related to vaka "be awake" (cf. Old High German wahta "watch, vigil," Middle Dutch wachten "to watch, guard;" see wake (v.)). Meaning "a sitting up at night with a corpse" is attested from early 15c. (the verb in this sense is recorded from mid-13c.). The custom largely survived as an Irish activity. Wakeman (c.1200), which survives as a surname, was Middle English for "watchman."
wake (n.1): "track left by a moving ship," 1540s, perhaps from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch wake "hole in the ice," from Old Norse vok, vaka "hole in the ice," from Proto-Germanic *wakwo. The sense perhaps evolved via "track made by a vessel through ice." Perhaps the English word is directly from Scandinavian. Figurative phrase in the wake of "following close behind" is recorded from 1806.
waken (v.): "to become awake," Old English wæcnan, wæcnian "to rise, spring," from the same source as wake (v.). Figurative sense was in Old English. Transitive sense of "to arouse (someone or something) from sleep" is recorded from c.1200. Related: Wakened; wakening.
Walach: Rumanian people, 1786, from German Wallache, from Old Church Slavonic Vlachu, from Old High German wahl "foreigner, one speaking a foreign language" (see Vlach).
Waldensian: c.1600, from Waldenses (plural), mid-15c., from Medieval Latin, apparently from Waldensis, a variant form of the surname of Peter Waldo, the preacher who originated the sect c.1170 in southern France. Excommunicated 1184, they eventually were swept into the Protestant revolt (16c.).
Waldorf salad: 1911, from Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, where it first was served.
wale (n.): Old English walu "ridge," as of earth or stone, later "ridge made on flesh by a lash" (related to weal (n.2)); from Proto-Germanic *walo (cf. Low German wale "weal," Old Frisian walu "rod," Old Norse völr "round piece of wood," Gothic walus "a staff, stick," Dutch wortel, German wurzel "root"). The common notion perhaps is "raised line." Used in reference to the ridges of textile fabric from 1580s. Wales "horizontal planks which extend along a ship's sides" is attested from late 13c.
Wales: see Welsh.
walk (v.): Old English wealcan "to toss, roll," and wealcian "to roll up, curl, muffle up," from Proto-Germanic *welk- (cf. Old Norse valka "to drag about," Danish valke "to full," Middle Dutch walken "to knead, press, full," Old High German walchan "to knead," German walken "to full"), perhaps ultimately from PIE root *wel- "to turn, bend, twist, roll" (see vulva).

Meaning shifted in early Middle English, perhaps from colloquial use of the Old English word. "Rarely is there so specific a word as NE walk, clearly distinguished from both go and run" [Buck]. Meaning "to go away" is recorded from mid-15c. Transitive meaning "to exercise a dog (or horse)" is from late 15c. The surname Walker probably preserves the cloth-fulling sense. Related: Walked; walking.
walk (n.): late 14c., "act of walking" (see walk (v.)). The noun meaning "broad path in a garden" is from 1530s; walk of life is from 1752. Sports sense of "base on balls" is recorded from 1905. To win in a walk (1854) is from horse racing.
walk-on (n.): "minor non-speaking role," 1902, theatrical slang. Meaning "actor who has such a part" is attested from 1946. The sports team sense is recorded from 1974.
walk-out (n.): "strike," 1888, from walk + out. Phrase Walk out "to leave" is attested from 1840.
walk-over (n.): "easy victory," 1838, such as one that happens in the absence of competitors, when the solitary starter can traverse the course at a walk. Transferred sense of "anything accomplished with great ease" is attested from 1902. To walk (all) over (someone) "treat with contempt" is from 1851.
walk-up: in reference to an apartment not accessible by elevator, 1919 (adj.), 1925 (n.), from walk (v.) + up (adv.).
walkabout (n.): "periodic migration by a westernized Aboriginal into the bush," 1828, Australian English, from walk (v.) + about.
walkie-talkie (n.): 1939, popularized in World War II army slang, from walk (v.) + talk (v.).
walking (adj.): c.1400, present participle adjective from walk (v.). Walking sickness, one in which the sufferer is able to get about and is not bed-ridden, is from 1846. Walking wounded is recorded from 1917. Walking bass is attested from 1939 in jazz slang. Walking stick is recorded from 1570s; the insect so called from 1760.
walkthrough (n.): 1944, "an easy part" (in a theatrical production), from walk (v.) + through. Meaning "dry run" is from 1959, from the notion of "walking (someone) through" something.
wall (n.): Old English weall "rampart" (natural as well as man-made), also "defensive fortification around a city, side of a building, interior partition," an Anglo-Frisian and Saxon borrowing (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch wal) from Latin vallum "wall, rampart, row or line of stakes," apparently a collective form of vallus "stake." Swedish vall, Danish val are from Low German.

In this case, English uses one word where many languages have two, e.g. German Mauer "outer wall of a town, fortress, etc.," used also in reference to the former Berlin Wall, and wand "partition wall within a building" (cf. the distinction, not always rigorously kept, in Italian muro/parete, Irish mur/fraig, Lithuanian muras/siena, etc.).

Phrase up the wall "angry, crazy" is from 1951; off the wall "unorthodox, unconventional" is recorded from 1966, American English student slang. Wall-to-wall (adj.) recorded 1953, of carpeting; metaphoric use (usually disparaging) is from 1967.
wall (v.): "to enclose in a wall," late Old English *weallian, from the source of wall (n.). Related: Walled; walling.
Wall Street (n.): "U.S. financial world," 1836, from street in New York City that is home to many investment firms and stock traders, as well as NYSE. The street so called because it ran along the interior of the defensive wall of the old Dutch colonial town.
wallaby (n.): kind of small kangaroo, 1826, from native Australian wolaba.
wallah (n.): also walla, Anglo-Indian, from Hindi -wala, suffix forming adjectives with the sense "pertaining to, connected with;" the functional equivalent of English -er (1). Europeans took it to mean "man, fellow" and began using it as a word.
wallbanger (n.): cocktail made from vodka or gin and orange juice, 1970, in full Harvey wallbanger. Probably so called from its effect on the locomotive skills of the consumer.
wallet (n.): late 14c., "bag, knapsack," of uncertain origin, probably from Old French, perhaps from Proto-Germanic *wal- "roll." Meaning "flat case for carrying paper money" is first recorded 1834, American English.
walleyed (adj.): c.1300, wawil-eghed, wolden-eiged, "having very light-colored eyes," also "having parti-colored eyes," from Old Norse vagl-eygr "having speckled eyes," from vagl "speck in the eye." Meaning "having one or both eyes turned out" (and thus showing much white) is first recorded 1580s.
wallflower (n.): 1570s, "flowering plant cultivated in gardens," from wall (n.) + flower (n.). Colloquial sense of "woman who sits by the wall at parties, often for want of a partner" is first recorded 1820.
Walloon: 1520s, from Middle French Wallon, literally "foreigner," of Germanic origin (cf. Old High German walh "foreigner"). The people are of Gaulish origin and speak a French dialect. The name is a form of the common appellation of Germanic peoples to Romanic-speaking neighbors. See Vlach; also cf. Welsh.
wallop (v.): late 14c., "to gallop," possibly from Old North French *waloper (13c.), probably from Frankish *walalaupan "to run well" (cf. Old High German wela "well" and Old Low Franconian loupon "to run, leap"). The meaning "to thrash" (1820) and the noun meaning "heavy blow" (1823) may be separate developments, of imitative origin. Related: Walloped; walloping.
wallow (v.): Old English wealwian "to roll," from West Germanic *walwojan, from PIE *wal-, *wel- "to roll" (see vulva). Figurative sense of "to plunge and remain in some state or condition" is attested from early 13c. Related: Wallowed; wallowing. The noun is recorded from 1590s.
wallpaper (n.): 1827, from wall (n.) + paper (n.).
wally (n.): term of admiration, Scottish, early 16c., of unknown origin. As a masc. proper name, a diminutive of Walter, and this might be the source of the teen slang term "unfashionable person" (1969).
walnut (n.): Old English walhnutu "nut of the walnut tree," literally "foreign nut," from wealh "foreign" (see Welsh) + hnutu (see nut). Cf. Old Norse valhnot, Middle Low German walnut, Middle Dutch walnote, Dutch walnoot, German Walnuß, So called because it was introduced from Gaul and Italy, distinguishing it from the native hazel nut. Cf. the Late Latin name for it, nux Gallica, literally "Gaulish nut." Applied to the tree itself from 1600 (earlier walnut tree, c.1400).
Walpurgis night: 1822, from German Walpurgisnacht, witches' revel, especially on Brocken, on May-day eve, literally "the night of (St.) Walpurgis," from Walburga, English abbess who migrated to Heidenheim, Germany, and died there c.780; May 1 being the day of the removal of her bones from Heidenheim to Eichstädt.
walrus (n.): 1650s, from Dutch walrus, which was probably a folk-etymology alteration (by influence of Dutch walvis "whale" and ros "horse") of a Scandinavian word, such as Old Norse rosmhvalr "walrus," hrosshvalr "a kind of whale," or rostungr "walrus." Old English had horschwæl, and later morse, from Lapp morsa or Finnish mursu, which ultimately might be the source, much garbled, of the first element in Old Norse rosmhvalr.
Walter: masc. proper name, from Old North French Waltier (Old French Gautier), of Germanic origin; cf. Old High German Walthari, Walthere, literally "ruler of the army," from waltan "to rule" (see wield) + hari "host, army" (see harry). Walter Mitty (1939) is from title character in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by U.S. short story writer James Thurber (1894-1961).
waltz (n.): dance performed to music in triple time, 1781, from German Waltzer, from walzen "to roll, dance," from Old High German walzan "to turn, roll," from Proto-Germanic *walt- (cf. Old Norse velta), from PIE root *wel- "to turn, revolve" (see vulva). Described in 1825 as "a riotous and indecent German dance."
waltz (v.): 1794, from waltz (n.). Meaning "to move nimbly" is recorded from 1862. Related: Waltzed; waltzing.
wampum (n.): 1630s, shortened from wampumpeag (1620s), from Algonquian (probably Narragansett) wanpanpiak "string of white (shell beads)," from wab "white" + ompe "string" + plural suffix -ag.
wan (adj.): Old English wann "dark, lacking luster," later "leaden, pale, gray," of uncertain origin, and not found in other Germanic languages. The connecting notion is colorlessness. Perhaps related to wane.
wand (n.): c.1200, from Old Norse vondr "rod, switch," (cf. Gothic wandus "rod," Middle Swedish vander), from Proto-Germanic *wend- "to turn," see wind (v.)). The notion is of a bending, flexible stick. Cf. cognate Old Norse veggr, Old English wag "wall," Old Saxon, Dutch wand, Old High German want, German Wand "wall," originally "wickerwork for making walls," or "wall made of wattle-work" (an insight into early Germanic domestic architecture). Magic wand is attested from c.1400 and shows the etymological sense of "suppleness" already had been lost.
wander (v.): Old English wandrian "move about aimlessly, wander," from West Germanic *wandrojan (cf. Old Frisian wondria, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch wanderen, German wandern "to wander," a variant form of the root represented in Old High German wantalon "to walk, wander"), from root *wend- "to turn" (see wind (v.)). In reference to the mind, affections, etc., attested from c.1400. Related: Wandered; wandering. The Wandering Jew of Christian legend first mentioned 13c. (cf. French le juif errant, German der ewige Jude).
wanderlust (n.): 1902, from German Wanderlust, literally "desire for wandering" (see wander + lust).
wane (v.): Old English wanian "make or become smaller gradually," from Proto-Germanic *wanojanan (cf. Old Saxon wanon, Old Norse vana, Old Frisian wania, Middle Dutch waenen, Old High German wanon "to wane, to grow less"), from *wano- "lacking," from PIE *we-no-, from root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out" (see vain). Related: Waned; waning; wanes.
wang (n.): "penis," 1933, slang, probably from whangdoodle, an earlier term for "gadget, thing for which the correct name is not known." Many such words (thingy, dingus, etc.) have been used in slang for "penis," not because the actual name was unknown, but because it was unmentionable. Another possibility is that the slang word is a variant of whang "large, thick slice" (1630s), which earlier was used in the sense of "thong" (1530s) and is itself a variant of thwang, an alternat form of thong (see thong).
wangle (v.): "obtain something by trickery," 1888, originally British printer's slang for "fake by manipulation;" perhaps an alteration of waggle, or of wankle (now dialectal) "unsteady, fickle," from Old English wancol (see wench). Brought into wider use by World War I soldiers.
waning (adj.): Old English wanunge, wonunge, present participle of wanian (see wane).
wank (n.): "act of (male) masturbation," 1948, slang. As a verb, from 1950. Related: Wanked; wanking.
Wankel (n.): type of rotary internal combustion engine, 1961, from name of German engineer Felix Wankel (1902-1988).
wanker (n.): 1940s, "masturbator," British slang, from wank "to masturbate," of unknown origin. General sense of "contemptible person" is attested from 1972. Cf. sense evolution of jerk (n.).