swain

English

/sweɪn/

noun
Definitions
  • (obsolete) A young man or boy in service; a servant.
  • (obsolete) A knight's servant; an attendant.
  • (archaic) A country labourer; a countryman, a rustic.
  • (poetic) A rural lover; a male sweetheart in a pastoral setting.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English swayn inherited from Old English sweġen derived from Old Norse sveinn (boy) derived from Proto-Germanic *swainaz (servant, young man, relative) derived from Proto-Indo-European *swé (self, oneself, separate, reflexive pronoun, apart, without, by oneself, away, aside).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*swé

Gloss

self, oneself, separate, reflexive pronoun, apart, without, by oneself, away, aside

Concept
Semantic Field

Kinship

Ontological Category

Other

Kanji

自, 己

Emoji

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms