*swa

Reconstruction

The adverb is *swa in Wiktionary and Fulk,^[1][2] *swa with *swē and *swō in Köbler,^[3] and *swō(t) in Orel.^[4]

Etymology

Wiktionary calls its origin uncertain; it is often taken to be from Proto-Indo-European *swé, and Dunkel reconstructs a PIE *swa "thus, like".^[1]

Morphology

An adverb.^[3] Fulk takes its vowel as short in Proto-Germanic and the stressed Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌴 (swē, “just as”) as the result of lengthening.^[2] The same lengthening, in his view, gave Old Saxon sō and Old High German sō and, with the fronting of low vowels, Old English swā and Old Frisian sā.^[5]

Evidence

The adverb is attested in all three branches: Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌰 (swa), Old Norse svá, and Old English swā, Old Frisian sā, Old Saxon sō and Old High German sō in West Germanic.^[4] The Gothic word is in Wulfila's Bible.^[6]

Competing analyses

Orel reconstructs a long vowel, from *swō̆d after Brugmann, and compares Ancient Greek ὥς (hṓs, “as, like”) and Old Latin suad (“thus”).^[4] Feist and de Vries also cite Brugmann's *suod,^[7][8] and Feist takes the Old Saxon and Old High German vowel from a different form, perhaps *swō.^[7] Lehmann bases the word on the PIE reflexive stem *se-, *swe-, and finds the derivation from *swod less likely.^[9]

Meanings

1. so, thus, in this manner^[1][3]

The Old English and Old Frisian words also served as conjunctions, "as, if, when".^[10][11]

Derivatives

• *swalīkaz "such", from *swa and *-līkaz.^[12]
• *swē "like, as", related to it.^[13]

Reflexes

• Gothic: 𐍃𐍅𐌰 (swa, “so”)^[7]
• Old Norse: svá (“so, at once; also; such”)^[8]
• Old English: swā (“so, as”)^[14]
• Old Frisian: sā (“so, in such a way”)^[11]
• Old Saxon: sō (“so, as”)^[15]
• Old High German: sō (“so, in this way”)^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *swa
2. ^ a b Fulk, R. D. (2018), A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages, Studies in Germanic Linguistics 3, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. § 2.5
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *swa
4. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 397
5. ^ Fulk, R. D. (2018), A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages, Studies in Germanic Linguistics 3, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. swa
7. ^ a b c Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 274
8. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 563
9. ^ 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. S171
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. swā
11. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. sā
12. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *swalīkaz
13. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *swē
14. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. swā
15. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sō
16. ^ 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