*swammaz

Runic: ᛊᚹᚨᛗᚨᛉ Pronunciation: /ˈswɑm.mɑz/

noun · masculine · a-stem

Meanings

sponge
fungus, mushroom
swamp

Etymology

Seemingly related to Ancient Greek σομφός (somphós, ‘spongy, porous (esp. of wood)’), with which it is traditionally derived from Proto-Indo-European *swombʰ- (‘sponge; tree-fungus’), but the Greek probably cannot be of inherited Indo-European origin given its lack of the expected shift *s- > *h- (but see σῦς (sûs) for a possible exception). Likely ultimately of substrate or wanderwort origin. Such a substrate word may speculatively be related to the substrate sources of similar words in other languages, including Latin fungus (‘mushroom, fungus’), Ancient Greek σπόγγος (spóngos) (spóngos)/σφόγγος (sphóngos, ‘sponge; tonsil’), Old Armenian սունկն (sunkn, ‘tree fungus’) and perhaps Proto-Balto-Slavic *gúmˀbas (‘bulged, bloated’) (whence Lithuanian gum̃bas (‘bulge’) and Proto-Slavic *gǫba (‘fungus, mushroom; sponge; lip’)), which cannot be reconciled in terms of Proto-Indo-European.

See also *sumpaz (‘swamp’). This along with the variants *swambaz (Old High German swamb) and *swampuz (Old Norse sǫppr, svǫppr, svampr) perhaps point to an original n-stem *swambô ~ *sumppaz.

Declension

Case	Singular	Plural
Nom.	swammaz	swammōz, swammōs
Acc.	swammą	swammanz
Gen.	swammas, swammis	swammǫ̂
Dat.	swammai	swammamaz
Inst.	swammō	swammamiz
Voc.	swamm	swammōz, swammōs

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Descendants

*swamm (Proto-West Germanic)
- *swamm (Old Dutch)
  - swamme, swam (Middle Dutch)
    - zwam (Dutch)
      - swam (Afrikaans)
*swamm (Proto-West Germanic)
- swamm (Old English)
  - swam (Middle English)
    - swamp, (Scots: swaam (English)
*swamm (Proto-West Germanic)
- *swam, *swom (Old Frisian)
  - Swom, Swam (Saterland Frisian)
  - swam (West Frisian)
*swamm (Proto-West Germanic)
- swamb, swam, swamp (Old High German)
  - swam, swamme, swamp (Middle High German)
    - Schwåmm, Schwammerl (Bavarian)
    - Schwamm (German)
    - Schwamp (Luxembourgish)
    - שוואָם (shvom), שוועמל (shveml) (Yiddish)
*swamm (Proto-West Germanic)
- swamm, swam (Old Saxon)
  - swam (Middle Low German)
    - Swamm (German Low German)
*swamb (Proto-West Germanic)
- *swamm (Old Dutch)
  - swamme, swam (Middle Dutch)
    - zwam (Dutch)
      - swam (Afrikaans)
*swamb (Proto-West Germanic)
- swamm (Old English)
  - swam (Middle English)
    - swamp, (Scots: swaam (English)
*swamb (Proto-West Germanic)
- *swam, *swom (Old Frisian)
  - Swom, Swam (Saterland Frisian)
  - swam (West Frisian)
*swamb (Proto-West Germanic)
- swamb, swam, swamp (Old High German)
  - swam, swamme, swamp (Middle High German)
    - Schwåmm, Schwammerl (Bavarian)
    - Schwamm (German)
    - Schwamp (Luxembourgish)
    - שוואָם (shvom), שוועמל (shveml) (Yiddish)
*swamb (Proto-West Germanic)
- swamm, swam (Old Saxon)
  - swam (Middle Low German)
    - Swamm (German Low German)
svǫppr (Old Norse)
- svøppur, soppur, svampur (Faroese)
- sveppur, svampur (Icelandic)
svǫppr (Old Norse)
- sopp, svamp (Norwegian)
  - sop, såp (Danish)
    - sopp (Norwegian Bokmål)
svǫppr (Old Norse)
- swamp (Old Danish)
  - svamp, svomp, sop (Danish)
    - svamp (Norwegian Bokmål)
svǫppr (Old Norse)
- svamper (Old Swedish)
  - svamp, sopp (Swedish)
soppr (Old Norse)
- svøppur, soppur, svampur (Faroese)
- sveppur, svampur (Icelandic)
soppr (Old Norse)
- sopp, svamp (Norwegian)
  - sop, såp (Danish)
    - sopp (Norwegian Bokmål)
soppr (Old Norse)
- swamp (Old Danish)
  - svamp, svomp, sop (Danish)
    - svamp (Norwegian Bokmål)
soppr (Old Norse)
- svamper (Old Swedish)
  - svamp, sopp (Swedish)
svampr (Old Norse)
- svøppur, soppur, svampur (Faroese)
- sveppur, svampur (Icelandic)
svampr (Old Norse)
- sopp, svamp (Norwegian)
  - sop, såp (Danish)
    - sopp (Norwegian Bokmål)
svampr (Old Norse)
- swamp (Old Danish)
  - svamp, svomp, sop (Danish)
    - svamp (Norwegian Bokmål)
svampr (Old Norse)
- svamper (Old Swedish)
  - svamp, sopp (Swedish)
𐍃𐍅𐌰𐌼𐌼𐍃 (swamms) (Gothic)

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