Etymograph

English

schwa

Schwa comes from German Schwa, from Hebrew שווא ‘shva (ִ◌ְ)’, and ultimately from Classical Syriac ܫܘܳܝܳܐ.

  1. Classical Syriacmodernܫܘܳܝܳܐš'waya
  2. Hebrew1880s–presentשוואš’wā‘shva (ִ◌ְ)’
  3. Germanc. 1650–presentSchwa
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1882schwa

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Classical Syriacmodernܫܘܳܝܳܐš'waya
  2. Hebrew1880s–presentשוואš’wā‘shva (ִ◌ְ)’
  3. Germanc. 1650–presentSchwa
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1882schwa

Earliest quotation: 1882, B. W. Wells, The Ablaut in English: “The participle has also, owing to the accent, the…”

The story

Borrowed from German Schwa, from Hebrew שווא / שְׁוָא (shva, šəwā, “(mark indicating reduction or absence of a vowel)”), borrowed from Classical Syriac ܫ̈ܘܰܝܳܐ (š'wayyā, literally “even, equal”), in Syriac a term for a sign consisting of two vertical dots used to separate parts of a sentence.

Every English word from Classical Syriac ܫܘܳܝܳܐ

Today it means

noun An indeterminate central vowel sound as the "a" in "about", represented as /ə/ in IPA.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Classical Syriac ܫܘܳܝܳܐ / schwa

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