Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/swainaz

This Proto-Germanic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Germanic

Etymology

Either from Proto-Indo-European *s(w)e- (“separate; apart; oneself; one's own”), or derived from *swīną (“pig, swine”), that is, a "pig herder" > "young man, relative".^[1] It is also possible that both derivations converged and conflated in the descendant languages.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈswɑi̯.nɑz/

Noun

*swainaz m^[1]

Inflection

masculine a-stemDeclension of *swainaz (masculine a-stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	*swainaz	swainōz, swainōs
vocative	*swain	swainōz, swainōs
accusative	*swainą	*swainanz
genitive	swainas, swainis	*swainǫ̂
dative	*swainai	*swainamaz
instrumental	*swainō	*swainamiz

Descendants

Proto-West Germanic: *swain
- Old English: swān
  - Middle English: swan, swane, swon, swone
- Old Saxon: swēn
  - Middle Low German: swên, swein
- Old High German: swein
  - Middle High German: swein
    - German: Schwein m (obsolete or dialectal)
Old Norse: sveinn
- Icelandic: sveinn
- Faroese: sveinur
- Norwegian Nynorsk: svein; (dialectal) sveidn
  - → Norwegian Bokmål: svein
- Old Swedish: svēn, svæn
  - Swedish: sven
- Old Danish: swen
  - Danish: svend
    - Norwegian Bokmål: svenn
- → Old English: sweġen
  - Middle English: swayn, sweine, sweyn, sueyn, swain, sweyn, swein, swaine, sweyne, swane
    - English: swain
    - Scots: swaine, swane
→ Proto-Samic: *svājnës (see there for further descendants)

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Vladimir Orel (2003) “*swainaz”, in A Handbook of Germanic Etymology‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 390

[HGE-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Vladimir Orel (2003) “*swainaz”, in A Handbook of Germanic Etymology‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 390

[1]