Etymology

sword

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Today it means: A long bladed weapon with a grip and typically a pommel and crossguard (together forming a hilt), which is designed to cut, stab, slash and/or hack. Full definition →

West Midland Middle English sword ← Old English sweord ← Proto-West Germanic *swerd
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sword · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*seh₂w-“sharp”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*swerdą“sword”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*swerd“sword”
  4. Old English · inherited fromsweord“sword”
  5. West Midland Middle English · inherited fromsword
  6. English todaysword

Inherited from West Midland Middle English sword (swerd in most dialects), from Old English sweord (“sword”), from Proto-West Germanic *swerd (“sword”), from Proto-Germanic *swerdą (“sword”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂w- (“sharp”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian Swērt, Swiirt, swörd (“sword”), Saterland Frisian Swid, Swäid (“sword”), West Frisian swurd (“sword”), Dutch zwaard (“sword”), German Schwert (“sword”), Luxembourgish Schwäert (“sword”), Vilamovian świert (“sword”), Yiddish שווערד (shverd, “sword”), Danish sværd (“sword”), Faroese svørð (“sword”), Icelandic sverð (“sword”), Norn svird (“small longish object”), Norwegian Bokmål sverd (“sword”), Norwegian Nynorsk sverd, svørd (“sword”), Swedish svärd (“sword”); also Belarusian све́рдзел (svjérdzjel, “drill, drill bit”), Bulgarian свре́дел (svrédel, “drill, drill bit”), Czech svider (“drill bit”), Polish świder (“drill”), Russian сверло́ (sverló, “auger, bore, drill, drill bit”), Serbo-Croatian свр̏дло, svȑdlo (“auger”), Slovene sveder (“drill”), Ukrainian све́рдел (svérdel), све́рдло (svérdlo, “drill bit”).

Sword · proper noun2

  1. Old Norse · derived fromSigvarðr
  2. Irish · derived fromÓ Suaird“descendant of Suard”
  3. English todaySword

Various origins: * Metonymic occupational surname for a sword maker or armorer. * Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Suaird (“descendant of Suard”), a Gaelicized form of Old Norse Sigvarðr.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.