Where does “swimmen” come from?

swimmen (Middle English) comes from Old English swimman, from Proto-West Germanic swimman, from Proto-Germanic swimmaną, from Proto-Indo-European swem(bʰ)- — to bend, turn, swing; to be unsteady, move, swim.

Ancestry of “swimmen”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Englishswimmanto swim
2Proto-West Germanicswimmanto swim
3Proto-Germanicswimmanąto be unsteady; to swim; float
4Proto-Indo-Europeanswem(bʰ)-to bend, turn, swing; to be unsteady, move, swim
Every word from Proto-Indo-European swem(bʰ)- →Every word from Proto-Germanic swimmaną →Every word from Proto-West Germanic swimman →