The story
- Proto-Indo-European · derived from*sweh₁-“to move, sway”
- Proto-Germanic · inherited from*swaimijaną
- Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*swaimijan
- Old English · inherited from*swǣman
- Middle English · inherited fromswemen
- English todaysweem
From Middle English swemen, from Old English *swǣman, from Proto-West Germanic *swaimijan, from Proto-Germanic *swaimijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sweh₁- (“to move, sway”). Cognate with Scots sweem, soom (“to spin at high speed; float”), Icelandic sveima (“to float, hover; wander, roam”).
Words from the same roots
Middle Englishswemen all →
squeamishsweam
Old English*swǣman all →
squeamishsweam
Proto-Indo-European*sweh₁- all →
swaysweam
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.