wend v.

"move by turning and twisting," Old English windan "to turn, twist, plait, curl, brandish, swing" (class III strong verb; past tense wand, past participle wunden), from Proto-Germanic *windan "to wind" (source also of Old Saxon windan, Old Norse vinda, Old Frisian winda, Dutch winden, Old High German wintan, German winden, Gothic windan "to wind"), from PIE *wendh- "to turn, wind, weave" (source also of Latin viere "twist, plait, weave," vincire "bind;" Lithuanian vyti "twist, wind").

Related to wend, which is its causative form, and to wander. The past tense and past participle merged in Middle English. Meaning "to twine, entwine oneself around" is from 1590s; transitive sense of "turn or twist round and round (on something) is from c. 1300. Meaning "set a watch, clockwork, etc. in operating mode by tightening its spring" is from c. 1600. Wind down "come to a conclusion" is recorded from 1952; wind up "come to a conclusion" is from 1825; earlier in transitive sense "put (affairs) in order in advance of a final settlement" (1780). Winding sheet "shroud of a corpse" is attested from early 15c.

past tense of go; originally a past tense and past participle of wend (v.), as sent from send.

The past tense forms of wend were wende, wended, but variants wente, went developed from c. 1200 as part of a Middle English pattern in which the -d of the past tense past participle becomes -t after -t-, -p-, -s-, -f-, in some cases -l- and -n- (also compare keep/kept, leave/left, gird/girt, build/built, feel/felt, dwell/dwelt, Middle English kissen/kiste, etc.

Went began to replace older past tenses of go in Middle English. By c. 1500 they were fully employed in that function, and wend retained the past tense form wended.