Online Etymology Dictionary

wreak

O.E. wrecan "avenge," originally "to drive, drive out, punish" (class V strong verb; past tense wræc, pp. wrecen), from P.Gmc. *wrekanan (cf. O.S. wrekan, O.N. reka, O.Fris. wreka, M.Du. wreken "to drive, push, compel, pursue, throw," O.H.G. rehhan, Ger. rächen "to avenge," Goth. wrikan "to persecute"), from PIE base *werg- "to work, to do" (cf. Lith. vergas "distress," vergas "slave," O.C.S. vragu "enemy," L. urgere; see urge (v.)). Meaning "inflict or take vengeance," with on, is recorded from c.1489; that of "inflict or cause (damage or destruction)" is attested from 1817.

wretch

O.E. wrecca "wretch, stranger, exile," from P.Gmc. *wrakjan (cf. O.S. wrekkio, O.H.G. reckeo "a banished person, exile," Ger. recke "renowned warrior, hero"), related to O.E. wreccan "to drive out, punish" (see wreak). Sense of "vile, despicable person" developed in O.E., reflecting the sorry state of the outcast, as presented in much of Anglo-Saxon verse (e.g. "The Wanderer"). A Ger. word for "misery" is Elend, from O.H.G. elilenti "sojourn in a foreign land, exile."

wreck (n.)

1228, "goods cast ashore after a shipwreck, flotsam," from Anglo-Fr. wrec, from O.N. *wrek (cf. Norw., Icel. rek) "wreck, flotsam," related to reka "to drive, push" (see wreak). The meaning "a shipwreck" is first recorded 1463; that of "a wrecked ship" is from 1500. General sense of "remains of anything that has been ruined" is recorded from 1713; applied by 1795 to dissipated persons. The verb meaning "to destroy, ruin" is first recorded 1510. Wreckage is first attested 1837.

wrack (n.)

c.1386, "wrecked ship," probably from M.Du. wrak "wreck," cognate with O.E. wræc "misery, punishment," and wrecan "to punish, drive out" (see wreak). The meaning "damage, disaster, destruction" (in wrack and ruin) is from c.1408, from the O.E. word. Sense of "seaweed, etc., cast up on shore" is recorded from 1513. The verb meaning "to ruin or wreck" (originally of ships) is recorded from 1562, from earlier intrans. sense "to be shipwrecked" (1470). Often confused in this sense since 16c. with rack (1) in the verb sense of "to torture on the rack;" to wrack one's brains is thus erroneous.

PIE:

Introduction & Abbreviations

PIE Proto-Indo-European, the hypothetical reconstructed ancestral language of the Indo-European family. The time scale is much debated, but the most recent date proposed for it is about 5,500 years ago.

However, "wreaked" is still the correct (modern) past form of "wreak". If it had a different form (since we see here it was a "strong" verb, in other words formed its tenses by umlaut or vowel change within the word, and these are the Old English verbs that give us "irregular" verbs today), it would have been "wreak" pronounced "rek", like "read", "read", pronounced "reed", "red".

Why does "work", a regular verb, have this old past form "wrought"?

Online Etymology Dictionary

work (v.)

a fusion of O.E. wyrcan (past tense worhte, pp. geworht), from P.Gmc. *wurkijanan; and O.E. wircan (Mercian) "to work, operate, function," formed relatively late from P.Gmc. noun *werkan (see work (n.)).

So one of the Old English forms had the past tense "worhte", which is obviously the ancestor of "wrought", while another, later, form was derived from the noun meaning "work", and was formed as a regular verb. That's the one that has survived till today, though we still say "wrought iron", "overwrought", etc.

I bet you're glad you got to the end of this (if...).

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind