Where does “swimming” come from?
Swimming is an English gerund derived from Old English swimmian, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European swem(bʰ)-, meaning to move through water.
swimming (English): The act or art of sustaining and propelling the...
Definitions
- The act or art of sustaining and propelling the...
Ancestry of “swimming”, step by step
swimming traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English swim
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | swim | To move through the water, without touching the... |
| 2 | Middle English | swime | — |
| 3 | Old English | swima | a swoon, swimming in the head |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | swimman | to swim |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | swimmaną | to be unsteady; to swim; float |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | swem(bʰ)- | to bend, turn, swing; to be unsteady, move, swim |
via Middle English swymmynge
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | swymmynge | — |