"Weird" is a weird word

The Old English word wyrd, meaning “fate” or “destiny,” appears in poems such as Beowulf and The Wanderer, where it denotes the inexorable forces governing life. After the Norman Conquest, French and Latin terms for fate displaced wyrd in southern Middle English, leaving the word alive only in northern dialects, where it evolved into the spelling “weird.” This northern origin explains the modern spelling that defies the usual “i before e” rule.