English
swith
Swith comes from Old English swīþ ‘strong, mighty, powerful, active, severe,…’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *swinþaz.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swinþaz‘strong’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*swinþ‘strong’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150swīþ‘strong, mighty, powerful, active, severe, violent’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500swith
- Englishtodayswith
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swinþaz‘strong’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*swinþ‘strong’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150swīþ‘strong, mighty, powerful, active, severe, violent’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500swith
- Englishtodayswith
The story
Possibly related to sound.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰ- ‘to overpower’
school, severe, sketch, scholar, hector, severity, perseverance, hectic, epoch, scholastic, schema, shul, 22 more
Today it means
adj Strong; vehement.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *swinþaz / swith