The correct spelling of the word "wert symptomatic" is actually "were symptomatic". The key pronunciation difference between these two variants is the vowel sound in the first syllable. In IPA phonetic transcription, "wert" would be /wɜrt/ while "were" would be /wɜr/. The vowel sound in the first syllable is pronounced with the tongue slightly higher in "wert" compared to "were". Therefore, correctly spelling "were symptomatic" involves using the "were" variant for the first word.
The phrase "wert symptomatic" does not have a clear etymology as it appears to be a combination of archaic and modern English words. "Wert" is the second person singular past tense of the verb "to be" in archaic English, and "symptomatic" is an adjective derived from the noun "symptom", which comes from the Greek word "symptōma" meaning "something that befalls" or "result". Therefore, "wert symptomatic" could be understood as an archaic expression meaning "you were exhibiting symptoms" or "you were showing signs of a condition".