Schwert

German

Etymology

From Middle High German swert, from Old High German swert (attested since the 8th century); from Proto-West Germanic *swerd, from Proto-Germanic *swerdą, from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to fester, to cut”).

Germanic cognates with identical meaning include Hunsrik Schweert, Low German Sweerd, Dutch zwaard, Afrikaans swaard, English sword, West Frisian swurd, Danish sværd, Norwegian sverd, Swedish svärd, Icelandic sverð, Faroese svørð.

The further etymology outside the Germanic branch is currently unknown. *swerdą, swerða- seems to be a nominal derivative with dental suffix originating from Indo-European *swer- and may, thus, be a cognate to German schwären (“to fester”).^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʃveːrt/, [ʃʋeːɐ̯t], [ʃʋɛɐ̯t]
Audio: (file)
Rhymes: -eːɐ̯t
Hyphenation: Schwert
Homophone: schwärt (some speakers)

Noun

Schwert n (strong, genitive Schwertes or Schwerts, plural Schwerter)

sword
Er zückte augenblicklich sein Schwert.
He drew his sword immediately.

Das Katana war ein weit verbreitetes Schwert in Japan.
The katana was a very common sword in Japan.

Breitschwert ― broadsword

Langschwert ― longsword
blade (of a chainsaw etc.)
Synonyms: Blatt n, Klinge f
dorsal fin (of certain kinds of whales)
Synonym: Rückenflosse f

Schwertwal ― orca
(heraldry) sword

Declension

Declension of Schwert [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Schwert	die	Schwerter
genitive	eines	des	Schwertes, Schwerts	der	Schwerter
dative	einem	dem	Schwert, Schwerte¹	den	Schwertern
accusative	ein	das	Schwert	die	Schwerter

¹Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms

Related terms

Schwertel

References

^ Wolfgang Pfeifer, editor (1993), “Schwert”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen (in German), 2nd edition, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN