Etymograph

English

swagger

Swagger comes from English swag ‘to sway’.

  1. English1500–presentswag‘to sway’
  2. Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596swagger

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. English1500–presentswag‘to sway’
  2. Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596swagger

Earliest quotation: c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame: “What hempen home-ſpuns haue we ſwaggering here, / So…”

first attested A frequentative form of swag (“to sway”), first attested in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595), see quotations (as stated in the etymology)

The story

A frequentative form of swag (‘to sway’), first attested in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595), see quotations.

Every English word from English swag

Today it means

verb To behave (especially to walk or carry oneself) in a pompous, superior manner.

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

Etymograph / English swag / swagger

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