Etymology

Oswald

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Today it means: Oswald of Northumbria, 7th century Northumbrian King and Saint. Full definition →

Old English Ōsweald ← Proto-West Germanic *Ansuwald ← Proto-Germanic *Ansuwaldaz
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ems-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂émsus
  3. Proto-Germanic*ansuz
  4. Proto-Germanic*waldą
  5. Proto-Germanic*Ansuwaldaz
  6. Proto-West Germanic*Ansuwald
  7. Old EnglishŌsweald
  8. English todayOswald

Inherited from Old English Ōsweald, from ōs (“god, deity”) + weald (“power”). Cognate with German Answald, Faroese and Icelandic Ásvaldur, and Norwegian Nynorsk Åsvald.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.