Etymology Dictionary

WAYWARD,  perverse.  (E.)   M.E. weiward; 'if thin iȝe be weiward [Lat. nequam], al thi bodi shall be derk,' Wyclif, Matt. vi. 23; used as an adj., but orig. a headless form of aweiward, adv., Owl and Nightingale, 376 (Stratmann), Layamon, 8878, 21464; cf. aweiwardes, in a direction away from, Layamon, 22352, Will. of Palerne, 2188.   Thus wayward is away-ward, i.e. turned away, perverse.   ¶ This is the simple solution of a word that has given much trouble.   It is a parallel formation to fro-ward, q.v.   It is now often made to mean bent on one's way.   Cf. 'ouerthwartlie waiwarded' = perversely turned away, Holinshed, Descr. of Ireland, ed. 1808, p. 274.   Der. wayward-ness, M.E. weiwardnesse, Wyclif, Rom. i. 29. [†]

ADDENDA

Compare also; "His weyes were a-weyward, wrothliche wrout;' Reliq. Antiq. ii. 9; 'Somme [notes of music] kroken a-weyward, als a fleshoke;' id. i. 292.   Also a-weyward = Lat. auersus, Trevisa, ii. 25.