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I would have thought it was somehow sourced from a 'horn', as in a bull getting ready to charge.
I googled and found this:
Where did the word ornery come from?
ornery (adj.)
1816, ornary, American English dialectal contraction of ordinary (adj.). " Commonplace," hence "of poor quality, coarse, ugly." By c. 1860 the sense had evolved to "mean, cantankerous." Related: Orneriness.
Etymonline › word › ornery
ornery | Origin and meaning of ornery by Online Etymology ...
Apparently ornery people do not exist in the UK. It seems to be an Americanism. I think it is kind of old fashioned now, but I grew up hearing the word frequently.
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