Etymograph

English

sweam

Sweam comes from Middle English swemen ‘to feel faint, be overcome’, from Old English *swǣman ‘to trouble, grieve’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sweh₁- ‘to sway, swing’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sweh₁-‘to sway, swing’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swaimaz‘a moving to and fro, a sway’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150*swǣman‘to trouble, grieve’reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500swemen‘to feel faint, be overcome’
  5. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500sweem
  6. Englishtodaysweam

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sweh₁-‘to sway, swing’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swaimaz‘a moving to and fro, a sway’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150*swǣman‘to trouble, grieve’reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500swemen‘to feel faint, be overcome’
  5. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500sweem
  6. Englishtodaysweam

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *sweh₁- ‘to sway, swing’

sway, 1 more

Today it means

noun A swimming of the head; a fainting fit; a swoon.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sweh₁- / sweam

Shirt and support for this word