*swerdą

Runic: ᛊᚹᛖᚱᛞᚨ Pronunciation: /ˈswer.ðɑ̃/

noun · neuter · a-stem

Meanings

sword

Etymology

Of disputed origin. Traditionally derived from a Proto-Indo-European *swerdʰ- (‘sharp tool’), often taken as an extension of *swer- (‘to hurt’), and compared with Proto-Slavic *svьrdьlъ (‘drill, auger’). This is uncertain, however, since all other descendants, such as Proto-Germanic *sweraną, only suggest an original meaning 'to ache, hurt, fester'.

Alternatively, (Nikolaev 2015) suggests derivation from Proto-Indo-European *sw-er, locative of *seh₂w- (‘sharp’) (with a loss of *h₂ between *s and *w) and cognate to Luwian [script needed] (šiḫual-, šiwal-, ‘sword’), [script needed] (šiwa-, ‘sharp’).

Declension

Case	Singular	Plural
Nom.	swerdą	swerdō
Acc.	swerdą	swerdō
Gen.	swerdas, swirdis	swerdǫ̂
Dat.	swerdai	swerdamaz
Inst.	swerdō	swerdamiz
Voc.	swerdą	swerdō

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Descendants

*swerd (Proto-West Germanic)
- swert, suert (Old Dutch)
  - swert (Middle Dutch)
    - zwerd (Limburgish)
    - zwoard (West Flemish)
    - zwaerd (Zealandic)
*swerd (Proto-West Germanic)
- swert, suert (Old Dutch)
  - swert (Middle Dutch)
    - zwaard (Dutch)
      - swaard (Afrikaans)
      - sweerd (Negerhollands)
*swerd (Proto-West Germanic)
- sweord, suord, swyrd, swurd (Old English)
  - swerd, sword (Middle English)
    - sword (English)
    - swuird, swerd, sword (Scots)
*swerd (Proto-West Germanic)
- swerd (Old Frisian)
  - ? (North Frisian)
  - Swäid, Swid (Saterland Frisian)
  - swurd (West Frisian)
*swerd (Proto-West Germanic)
- swert (Old High German)
  - swert (Middle High German)
    - Schwert (German)
    - Schweert (Hunsrik)
    - Schwäert (Luxembourgish)
    - świert (Vilamovian)
    - שווערד (shverd) (Yiddish)
*swerd (Proto-West Germanic)
- swerd (Old Saxon)
  - swert (Middle Low German)
    - Sweerd, Schweerd, Schwert (German Low German)
    - Schwieet (Plautdietsch)
sverð (Old Norse)
- svørð (Faroese)
- sverð (Icelandic)
- sverd, svørd (Norwegian Nynorsk)
sverð (Old Norse)
- swærth (Old Danish)
  - sværd (Danish)
    - sverd (Norwegian Bokmål)
sverð (Old Norse)
- sværþ (Old Swedish)
  - svärd (Swedish)

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