Etymograph

English

swing

Swing comes from Middle English swyngen ‘to flog, beat, or scourge’, from Proto-West Germanic *swingan ‘to swing’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swenk-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swenk-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swinganą‘to swing’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*swingan‘to swing’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150swingan‘to swinge, flog, beat, scourge’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500swyngen‘to flog, beat, or scourge’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1693swing

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swenk-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swinganą‘to swing’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*swingan‘to swing’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150swingan‘to swinge, flog, beat, scourge’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500swyngen‘to flog, beat, or scourge’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1693swing

Earliest quotation: 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, [The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Tenth Satyr: “Take thy swing.”

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *swinganą ‘to swing’

swank, 1 more

Today it means

verb To rotate about an off-centre fixed point.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *swenk- / swing

Shirt and support for this word