schwören

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See also: schworen

German

Etymology

From Middle High German swern, from Old High German swerien, sweren, from Proto-West Germanic *swarjan, from Proto-Germanic *swarjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *swer-.

Compare Low German swören, sweren, Hunsrik schweere, Dutch zweren, English swear, Danish sværge, Swedish svära.

Pronunciation

Verb

schwören (class 6 strong, third-person singular present schwört, past tense schwor or (archaic) schwur, past participle geschworen, past subjunctive schwöre or schwüre, auxiliary haben)

  1. (intransitive or transitive) to swear; to take an oath
    Du brauchst nicht zu schwören. Ich glaube es dir auch so.
    You don’t need to swear. I believe you already.
    Ich schwöre es dir.I swear it to you.
    Sie hat mir Treue geschworen.She swore me loyalty.
    Er hat einen Eid geschworen.He swore an oath.
  2. (intransitive) to swear by; to be convinced of; to like
    Meine Nachbarin schwört auf dieses Duschbad.
    My neighbour swears by this shower gel.

Usage notes

  • That which is invoked during the oath is given with the prepositions bei (by) or auf (on). The latter is chiefly used with something one holds or touches while swearing, e.g. auf die Bibel (on the Bible). Otherwise bei is more common and it is generally only appropriate with people or living beings, e.g. bei Gott (by God, to God).
  • The subject or topic of the oath is given with the preposition auf, e.g. ich würde nicht darauf schwören (I wouldn’t swear on it). Only this preposition is also used in the idiom “to swear by”. Hence, the German idiom may mean that one vouches for the quality or effectiveness of something, rather than that one cherishes it so much as to invoke it in one’s oaths.

Conjugation

Synonyms

Derived terms

Further reading

  • schwören” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • schwören” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • schwören” in Duden online
  • schwören” in OpenThesaurus.de