I cannot believe that this is based on 'wild-ish' meaning 'somewhat wild' -
the etymology just doesn't work. The only parallel I can think of is
'Britisher', noun from 'British' (which Chambers Dictionary derives from
Old English bret, meaning a briton, or a welshman(!)). This suggests to me
that the derivation from weald is th emost plausible.
Michael Healy
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