Etymology
1. O.E.
swerian "take an oath" (class VI strong verb; past tense
swor, pp.
sworen), from P.Gmc.
*swarjanan, from root
*swar- (cf. O.S.
swerian, O.N.
sverja, Dan.
sverge, O.Fris.
swera, M.Du.
swaren, O.H.G.
swerien, Ger.
schwören, Goth.
swaren "to swear"), from PIE base
*swer- "to speak, say" (cf. O.C.S.
svara "quarrel"). Also related to the second element in answer. The secondary sense of "use bad language" (c.1430) developed from the notion of "invoke sacred names."
Swear-word is Amer.Eng. colloquial from 1883.
Swear off "desist as with a vow" is from 1898.
2. From Middle English sweren, swerien, from Old English swerian (“to swear, take an oath of office”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarjan, from Proto-Germanic *swarjaną (“to speak, swear”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to swear”).
3. Cognate with West Frisian swarre (“to swear”), Saterland Frisian swera (“to swear”), Dutch zweren (“to swear, vow”), Low German swören (“to swear”), sweren, German schwören (“to swear”), Danish sværge, Swedish svära (“to swear”), Icelandic sverja (“to swear”), Russian свара (svara, “quarrel”). Also cognate to Albanian var (“to hang, consider, to depend from”) through Proto-Indo-European.
4. The original sense in all Germanic languages is “to take an oath”. The sense “to use bad language” developed in Middle English and is based on the Christian prohibition against swearing in general (cf. Matthew 5:33-37) and invoking God’s name in particular (i.e. frequent swearing was considered similar to the use of obscene words). See: Middle English '
sweren', Old English '
swerian', Proto-Germanic '
*swarjaną', Dutch '
zweren', Low Saxon 'swören', German, old spelling '
schwören', Danish '
sværge', Swedish '
svära', Icelandic '
sverja'.
Verbs referencing "swear"
German, old spelling
schwören, Sranan
sweri, Ukrainian
сварити, Luxembourgish
schwieren, Alemannic German
schwere, Danish
sværge, Sanskrit
स्वरति.