The story
- Proto-Indo-European · derived from*swenk-
- Proto-Germanic · inherited from*swinganą
- Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*swingan
- Old English · inherited fromswingan
- Middle English · inherited fromswyngen
- English todayswing
From Middle English swyngen, from Old English swingan, from Proto-West Germanic *swingan, from Proto-Germanic *swinganą (compare Low German swingen, German schwingen, Dutch zwingen, Swedish svinga), from Proto-Indo-European *swenk-, *sweng- (compare Scottish Gaelic seang (“thin”)). Related to swink.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.