Origin and history of wonder

Middle English, from Old English wundor "strange or marvelous thing, unheard of or supernatural event; object of astonishment," from Proto-Germanic *wundran (source also of Old Saxon wundar, Middle Dutch, Dutch wonder, Old High German wuntar, German wunder, Old Norse undr), a word of unknown origin.

By late Old English as "cause of perplexity, a conundrum." In Middle English it also came to mean the emotion of amazement or reverential awe excited by novelty or something extraordinary and not well understood (late 13c.). By mid-14c. as "a spectacle."

To be no wonder "no surprise" was in late Old English (næs nan wunder, with emphatic negatives). A nine-days wonder (1590s) "subject of astonishment and gossip for a short time," was later "generally a petty scandal" (Century Dictionary); in Chaucer nine-nights wonder (compare nine). The original wonder drug (1939) might have been Sulfanilamide.

Middle English wondren, from Old English wundrian "be astonished, be struck with amazement," also "admire; make wonderful, magnify," from the source of wonder (n.) and like it of unknown origin. Germanic cognates include Dutch wonderen, Old High German wuntaron, German wundern.

The transitive sense of "be puzzled, be curious about, entertain some doubt, speculate expectantly," is attested by late Old English, hence I wonder for "I should like to know." Related: Wondered; wondering.

Reflexive dative use (I wonder me) was common in Middle English and as late as Tyndale (1533), and is said to survive in Yorkshire/Lincolnshire. It wonders me "it affects or strikes me with wonder" is attested by 1550s; its modern use in Pennsylvania German areas it is idiomatic, from German das wundert mich.