Etymology Dictionary

UNRULY,  disregarding restraint.  (Hybrid; E. and F.,—L.; with E. suffix.)   In James, iii. 8, where Wyclif has vnpesible; here the E. version translates the Gk. ἀκατάσχετον, i.e. that cannot be ruled.   Thus unruly is for unrule-ly; it does not seem to be a very old word, though going back nearly to A.D. 1500.   'Ye... vnrulilye haue ruled;' Sir J. Cheke, Hurt of Sedition (R.)   From Un- and Rule; with suffix -ly.   ¶ It is remarkable that the M.E. unro, unrest, might have produced a somewhat similar adj., viz. unroly, unrouly, restless.   But Stratmann gives no example of the word, and the vowel-sound does not quite accord; so that any idea of such a connection may be rejected.   This M.E. unro is from A.S. un-, not, and rów, rest (Grein, ii. 384), cognate with Icel. ró, G. ruhe, rest, from the same root as Rest; Fick, iii. 246.   We must also note that unruled occurs as equivalent to unruly, as in 'theyse vnrulyd company,' Fabyan, Chron. an. 1380-1.   Der. unruli-ly, -ness. [†]

ADDENDA

In the Cath. Angl. (1483), we find:  'Reuly, tranquillus,' and 'vn-rewely, inquietus.'   Also 'reule, regula;' and 'to reule, regulare.'   The sense 'tranquil' may have been due to confusion with M.E. ro, rest; but the form of the word is due to 'rewle, regula.'   We find 'ruly and rightwise,' in the Destruction of Troy, l. 3888, where the sense seems to be 'orderly.'   Cotgrave explains F. moderé by 'moderate, quiet, ruly, temperate, orderly.'