Old English will, willa “mind, determination, purpose; desire, wish, request; joy, delight,” from Proto-Germanic *wiljon- (source also of Old Saxon willio, Old Norse vili, Old Frisian willa, Dutch wil, Old High German willio, German Wille, Gothic wilja “will”), related to *willan “to wish” (see will (v.1)). The meaning “written document expressing a person’s wishes about disposition of property after death” is first recorded late 14c.