section_path: Etymology
section_name: Etymology
paragraph_text: Etymology
  
  The English word war derives from the 11th-century Old English words wyrre and werre, from Old French werre (also guerre as in modern French), in turn from the Frankish * werra, ultimately deriving from the Proto-Germanic * werzō ' mixture, confusion '. The word is related to the Old Saxon werran, Old High German werran, and the modern German verwirren, meaning ' to confuse, to perplex, to bring into confusion '.