Origin and history of worry

c. 1300, wirien, "to slay, kill or injure by biting and shaking the throat" (as a dog or wolf does), from Old English wyrgan, wirgan, wirigan "to strangle," from Proto-Germanic *wurgjan, from *wergh- (reconstructed in Watkins to be from PIE root *wer- (2) "to turn, bend").

The figurative meaning "to annoy, bother, vex" is by c. 1400; the "strangle" sense generally was obsolete in English after c. 1600. The meaning "cause mental distress or trouble" is attested from 1822; the intransitive sense of "to feel anxiety or mental trouble" is attested by 1860.

Germanic cognates include Middle Dutch worghen, Dutch worgen, Old High German wurgen, German würgen "to strangle," Old Norse virgill "rope." Related: Worried. 

"harassing anxiety arising from cares and troubles," 1804, from worry (v.). By 1813 as a cause or instance of this.