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Mysteries of vernacular:

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Bewilder, to confuse or puzzle completely.

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The root of the word bewilder

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can be traced back to the Old English word wilde,

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which was used to refer to something

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that was in a natural state,

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uncultivated,

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or undomesticated.

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Over time, the word wild was often linked

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to the Old English word deor.

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Deor, which was derived

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from an early Indo-European root

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that meant breathe,

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was initially used to describe

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any untamed animal or beast.

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This eventually morphed into the modern word deer,

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meaning a ruminant of the family Cervidae.

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The two Old English words,

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when mashed together,

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became wilderness,

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meaning a tract of uncultivated land,

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primarily inhabited by undomesticated beasts.

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From the word wilderness,

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the word wilder was born.

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To wilder someone was to lead him astray

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or lure him into the woods.

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In the 1600's, the prefix be,

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meaning thoroughly,

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was compounded with wilder

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as a way of tacking on a little extra punch.

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Someone who was bewildered

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was thoroughly lost in the wild.

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From this winding background,

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bewilder eventually evolved into our current definition,

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to be completely confused.