swa

Forms

swā^[1] Vespasian Psalter gloss: swe.^[2][3][4] The Kentish will of Abba: swæ.^[5] Unstressed: se (in seþēah).^[6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *swā, from Proto-Germanic *swa (“so, thus”).^[1][7] The word is found in Old Norse svá, Old Frisian sā, Old Saxon sō and Old High German sō,^[7] and in Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌰 (swa) beside 𐍃𐍅𐌴 (swē).^[8][2] Outside Germanic, Holthausen compares Old Latin suād (“so”) and Oscan svai (“if”).^[8]

Its further origin is uncertain: it is often derived from the reflexive Proto-Indo-European *swé, while Dunkel reconstructs an adverb Proto-Indo-European *swa (“thus, like”), and Ancient Greek ὥς (hṓs, “as, like”), a Homeric word, is compared.^[1] Köbler connects it with the pronoun stem Proto-Indo-European *se- (“apart, oneself”), and Etymonline with the reflexive stem Proto-Indo-European *swo-.^[7][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is in the Old English bounds of King Coenwulf's grant of 811 to Archbishop Wulfred, whose single sheet is held to be the original: swa andlang dices west on burhrode “then along the ditch west to Burhrode”.^[10] The will of Abba the reeve, of 833×839 and in a contemporary single sheet, has the Kentish sioððan swæ forð min cynn “and afterwards so on, my kin”.^[5] The Vespasian Psalter gloss of the mid-ninth century writes swe swe leo “as a lion”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller begin with a relative pronoun “as, that” and a demonstrative use (hē þā swā dyde “he did so”), then the adverb of manner and degree, “so, thus, so much”, and the conjunction “as, so that, provided that”.^[2][6] Doubled, it gives the correlatives “as … as” and “the … the”, and swā hwā swā “whoever”, swā hwæt swā “whatever”.^[1][11] Swā swā means the same as the single word.^[6] In Beowulf it stands most often at the head of a sentence, “thus”.^[12] In glosses it renders Latin sic, ita, sicut, quasi, tam and ut.^[7]

The word lived on as Middle English so, now English so.^[13][9]

Timeline

• 811 – swa andlang dices in the bounds of Coenwulf's charter (S 168), in its original single sheet.^[10]
• 833×839 – swæ forð in the will of Abba (S 1482), in a contemporary single sheet.^[5]
• s. ix med. – swe swe leo “as a lion” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[3][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. so, thus, in this way.^[2][12]
2. so, to such a degree; very.^[1][2]
3. then, next (in a sequence).^[6]

Conjunction

1. as, just as, like.^[2][1]
2. so that, with the result that.^[2][1]
3. provided that, on condition that.^[1][7]
4. when, as soon as.^[1][7]
5. swā … swā: whether … or.^[11][1]

Pronoun

1. (relative) as, that.^[2][14]

Word family

• ealswā
• swā þēah

Descendants

• Middle English so (→ English so; English se; Scots sae)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 940
3. ^ a b c Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 329
4. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
5. ^ a b c The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 1482
6. ^ a b c d Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 187
7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. swā
8. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 331
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 168
11. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 328
12. ^ a b Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. swā
13. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
14. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 205