Etymograph

English

sweam

Sweam comes from Middle English swemen ‘to feel faint, be overcome’, from Old English *swǣman ‘to trouble, grieve’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sweh₁- ‘to sway, swing’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sweh₁-1‘to sway, swing’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swaimaz1‘a moving to and fro, a sway’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150*swǣman1‘to trouble, grieve’reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500swemen1‘to feel faint, be overcome’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sweem1
  6. Englishtodaysweam1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English sweam

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sweh₁-Wiktionary, English sweam‘to sway, swing’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swaimazWiktionary, English sweam‘a moving to and fro, a sway’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150*swǣmanWiktionary, English sweam‘to trouble, grieve’reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500swemenWiktionary, English sweam‘to feel faint, be overcome’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sweemWiktionary, English sweam
  6. EnglishtodaysweamWiktionary, English sweam

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *sweh₁- ‘to sway, swing’

sway, 1 more

Today it means

noun A swimming of the head; a fainting fit; a swoon.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sweam”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sweh₁- / sweam

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