Etymology Explorer › Old English

Where does “swefan” come from?

swefan (Old English) comes from Proto-Germanic swefaną, from Proto-Indo-European swep- — to sleep.

swefan (Old English): to sleep; to be dead

Definitions

  1. to sleep; to be dead

Ancestry of “swefan”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Proto-Germanicswefanąto sleep
2Proto-Indo-Europeanswep-to sleep
Every word from Proto-Indo-European swep- →