squeamish

The story

1. Old English · derived from*swǣman“to grieve, trouble, afflict”
2. Middle English · derived fromswemen“to grieve, make suffer, be faint of heart”
3. Anglo-Norman · derived fromescoimus
4. Middle English · derived fromsquaimous
5. English todaysqueamish

Origin obscure. Likely a merger of earlier squeamous (“squeamish”), from Middle English squaimous, queimous, from Anglo-Norman escoimus, escoymous, of unknown origin; and dialectal English sweamish, sweemish (“faint, squeamish”), from sweam (“dizziness, sudden qualm of sickness”) and dialectal sweem (“to swoon, be faint, be overcome, feel sick”), from Middle English swemen (“to grieve, make suffer, be faint of heart”), from Old English *swǣman (“to grieve, trouble, afflict”). If so, then related to swim (“to be dizzy, swoon”). See also sweam.

Words from the same roots