*swē

Reconstruction

The adverb is *swē in Kroonen and Wiktionary;^[1][2] Köbler heads one entry *swa, swē, *swō "so".^[3]

Etymology

Kroonen derives it from Proto-Indo-European *sue- (“his, his own, self”), the PIE reflexive root;^[1] Wiktionary says it is often derived from PIE *swē and in any case related to *swa (“so, thus”).^[2]

Morphology

An adverb that is also used as a conjunction.^[1] Feist describes Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌴 (swe) as in ablaut with Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌰 (swa, “so”).^[4] Kroonen has a separate prefix *swe- "self-", a distinct word, in Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌹𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌸𐍃 (swikunþs, “manifest”) and Old Norse svédauðr (“suddenly dead”).^[1]

Evidence

Kroonen lists reflexes in all three branches: Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌴 (swe) in Gothic, Old Norse svá in Old Norse, and Old English swā, Old Frisian sā, Old Saxon sō and Old High German sō in West Germanic.^[1] Fulk, however, explains Old English swǣ and swē as lengthened forms of the short word when it was re-stressed.^[5]

Competing analyses

Orel heads the North and West Germanic words *swō(t) "so, thus", with Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌰 (swa), from PIE *su̯ō̆d, related to Homeric Ancient Greek ὥς (hṓs, “as, like”) and Latin suād (“thus”), an Old Latin form.^(Orel 2003|s.v. *swō(t)) De Vries and Feist also trace Old Norse svá and the Gothic word to an IE *suod.^[6][7] Feist takes sō and Old High German sō perhaps from *swō.^[4]

Meanings

1. as, like; so^[1][3]
2. just like, in the same manner as; as if^[2]

Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌴 (swe) is a relative adverb "as, about" and a conjunction "when, as";^[8] Old English swā also meant "therefore", "provided that" and "although".^[9]

Reflexes

• Gothic: 𐍃𐍅𐌴 (swe, “as, how”)^[4]
• Old Norse: svá (“so, at once, also, such”)^[6]
• Old English: swā (“so, as, therefore”)^[9]
• Old Frisian: sā (“so, in such a way, as”)^[10]
• Old Saxon: sō (“so, as”)^[11]
• Old High German: sō (“so, in this way, as if”)^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 496
2. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *swē
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *swa
4. ^ a b c Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. swe
5. ^ Fulk, R. D. (2018), A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages, Studies in Germanic Linguistics 3, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins
6. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. svá
7. ^ Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. swa
8. ^ Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. swa
9. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. swā
10. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. sā
11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sō
12. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. sô