Where does “swam” come from?

swam (Old Dutch) comes from Proto-Germanic *swammaz, from Proto-Indo-European swombh- — sponge, tree-fungus, swamp.

Ancestry of “swam”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Proto-Germanic*swammaz—
2Proto-Indo-Europeanswombh-sponge, tree-fungus, swamp

Words derived from “swam”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European swombh- →Every word from Proto-Germanic *swammaz →