Etymograph

English

swim

Swim comes from Middle English swymmen ‘to swim’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *swem(bʰ)-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swem(bʰ)-‘to be unsteady, move, swim’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swimmaną‘to swim’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*swimman‘to swim’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150swimman‘to swim, float’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500swymmen‘to swim’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1599swim

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swem(bʰ)-‘to be unsteady, move, swim’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swimmaną‘to swim’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*swimman‘to swim’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150swimman‘to swim, float’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500swymmen‘to swim’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1599swim

Earliest quotation: 1599, The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar: “Why, now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark!…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *swem(bʰ)- ‘to be unsteady, move, swim’

sounder, 2 more

Another origin of swim

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swīmāną‘to move, sway’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swīmô‘dizziness’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*swīmōreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150swīma‘a swoon, swimming in the head’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500swime
  6. Englishtodayswim

Today it means

verb To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *swem(bʰ)- / swim

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