What is the etymology of the phrase "end up", and of the meaning of "wind up" that means essentially the same thing?
To clarify, I mean the specific meaning of "wind up" that means the same as "end up"
Like, you would say "[something] ends up [somewhere]" , and in at least some dialects you could say "[something] winds up [somewhere]" with the same meaning, and same with "[someone] ends up [doing something]".
In Merriam-Webster, this sense is (intransitive verb) 1.b: "to arrive in a place, situation, or condition at the end or as a result of a course of action " – and while "end up" has no dictionary entry, I've always thought of it as the "less unusual" way of saying the same thing.
Best Answer
Etymonline has these notes on "wind":
The meaning is "to move by twisting and turning" and the relevant root is windan; the word is also related to wend and wander.
End, on the other hand, does have a different root listed:
"End up" is not listed there. Searching for historical uses is mostly futile considering sentences such as "this end up" and "place the large end up". I am not sure there is any real link between the two. The relevant dictionary definition for "up" gives us a bit of a tip:
The accompanying example is "creeping up" and within this framework you can see the use of "up" with many verbs that describe movement:
And so on. Therefore, I suggest that the connection between "wind up" and "end up" has more to do with up than the other two words — even though they sound similar. Both wind and end have their histories and happen to work well with up.