adj., v. (wk.)
Gaw past pl. sweyed; Cl swey, past sg. swe, past pl. swyed, pres. ptcp. sweande; Pat past 3 sg. sweʒed, sweyed, imper. sg. sweʒe; WA pres. pl. swey, past pl. sweyd (D).
'to speed, sink, stoop, collapse; fall, rush, swing' (Modern English sway)
PGmc Ancestor
(1) *swōgjan-; (2) *swaigjan-; (3) *swegan-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
(2) sveigja ‘to bow, bend’ (trans. and intrans.), sveigja-sk ‘to be swayed, sway, swerve’
(ONP (2) sveigja (vb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
(2) Far sveiggja, Icel sveigja, Norw sveigja, Dan sveje, Sw dial sväig', sveia
OE Cognate
(1) swēgan 'to make a noise, sound, roar, crash; import, signify'; (3) *swegan
Phonological and morphological markers
[ON /ei/ < PGmc */ai/] (may not be applicable)
Summary category
DD1c
The majority of MED's citations come from N verse, with the main exception being a1325 SLeg.(Corp-C 145). The instance at WA 2057 is found only in the D MS ('sweyd sleghtly'); the A MS reads 'seʒes sidlings'.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 1429, 1796; Cl 87, 420, 788, etc.; Pat 72, 151, 236; WA 3970
On the sense at Gaw 1429 see Savage 1944: 350, and on that at Gaw 1796 see Luttrell 1956: 300; the latter can be regarded either as a strong past. (thus TGD, GDSn, Vantuono n.), or as wk. with elision of final -d before the following word doun (see Emerson 1922: 398, Luttrell 1956: 290–1). Most editors (incl. Menner, GollCl, AW and Vant) interpret swyed at Cl 87 as an instance of ME sue 'follow', but Anderson takes it as a past pl. form of sweʒe. At WA 2057 there is an additional occurrence in the D MS (sweyd past pl. for MS A seʒes).