*ammōną

Iterative from an earlier paradigm *ammōþi ~ *amunanþi, from pre-Germanic *h₃m̥h₃-néh₂-ti ~ h₃m̥h₃-n̥h₂-énti, a Proto-Indo-European néh₂-present from root *h₃emh₃-. Germanic iterative verbs of this type continue PIE nasal presents, with their durative or repetitive semantics arising when punctiliar aoristic roots were reformulated. (Kroonen 2011a: 99–101; Kroonen 2012a: 276–77; Kroonen 2012c: 191–93; Kroonen 2013: s.v. *am(m)ōn-).

The semantic development ‘seize, press upon’ → ‘trouble, irritate’ is supported particularly by Indo-Aryan: compare Sanskrit अम् (am), its present अमीति (amīti), and causative आमयति (āmáyati). Cognates reflecting the specialized sense ‘swear’ include Ancient Greek ὄμνυμι (ómnumi) and Phrygian umn-/ομν- (omn-) (Beekes 2010: 1078; Cheung 2007: s.v. *HamH; Obrador-Cursach 2021: 53–54; Rix et al. 2001: s.v. *h₂emh₃-¹, 265–266).