Wilden

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To cause something to become wild, untamed, or unrestrained, or to grow wild oneself, as an archaic verb
2. An obsolete verb meaning to render something wild or untamed, or to turn toward a savage, unruly state
3. Archaic usage meaning to make a thing wild or uncultivated, or for it to revert to a natural, untamed condition

Etymology: "Wilden" is a verb built simply from the adjective "wild" and the suffix "-en", which turns an adjective into a verb meaning "to make or become" that quality. So "to wilden" is to make something wild, or to let it slip back into an untamed state. The adjective "wild" has a long history in the Germanic languages, reaching back through Old English "wilde" to a Proto-Germanic form, and the "-en" ending has been used the same way in English for centuries, as in "whiten", "soften", and "redden". The suffix itself has a longer pedigree than most English endings. It descends from Old English "-nian", which was used to form verbs from adjectives, and passed through Middle English "-en" before settling into the form seen in modern English. Its use here is entirely ordinary: "wilden" is a transparent formation, and the sense of the word follows directly from its parts without any surprising shift in meaning.