English
swath
Swath comes from Old English swæþ ‘track’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *swaþō ‘a wind-swept place’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swaþō‘a wind-swept place’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*swaþreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150swæþ‘track’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500swath
- Englishearliest quotation 2015swath
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swaþō‘a wind-swept place’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*swaþreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150swæþ‘track’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500swath
- Englishearliest quotation 2015swath
Earliest quotation: 2015, Jesse Jackson: “It is undeniable that Malcolm was a beacon of…”
The story
Has been derived from a Proto-Indo-European *swey- (‘to bend, turn, swing’), and compared with Ancient Greek σιμός (simós, “snub-nosed”) and Welsh chwil (‘reeling, staggering’), though this is uncertain, as well as the Greek comparandum being unlikely.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. Attested in English since 888 in its obsolete meaning of track or trace, since 1475 in its more modern usage. No definite cognates outside Germanic languages.
Every English word from Proto-Germanic *swaþō
Today it means
noun The track cut out by a scythe in mowing.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *swaþō / swath