Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

Dictionary online

æ
þ

swíma

  • noun [ masculine ]
Dictionary links
Grammar
swíma, an; m.
Wright's OE grammar
§401;
swimming in the head, dizziness, giddiness, vertigo
Show examples

  • Hí áscamode swiciaþ on swíman

    ashamed they wander dizzily,

      Exon. Th. 79, 33 ; Cri. 1300.

  • Wið ðone swíman, nim . . . and cnuca . . . wyrta . . . ofgeót mid wætere . . . nim ðone wǽtan and lafa ðen heáfod,

      Lchdm, iii. 48, 3. ,
a state of unconsciousness, a swoon
Show examples

  • Licgan on swíman to lie unconscious, Judth

    Thw.

      21, 22; Jud. 30 - 23, 5 ; Jud. 106.
Etymology
[For to wacken him (Lazarus in the grave) of his suime (swyme), C. M. 14201. Halliwell gives three instances of the word, in the following phrases, to fall in swyme, to lie in swyme, to come as in swyme. (In these four passages swyme rimes with tyme. ) He also gives swimy = giddy in the head, as a Sussex word (v. also E. D. S. Pub. C. 4, where swimy or swimy-headed=- giddy, is given as a Surrey word) ; and swimer a hard blow as used in Devonshire. O. Frs. swirna giddiness, swoon : Du. zwijm swoon: Icel. svimi; liggja í svima to lie in a swoon, slá i svima to stun: Dan. svime a swoon; svime-slag a stunning blow. ]
Similar entries
v. heáfod-swíma.
Entry information
Citation

Bosworth, Joseph. “swíma.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014. https://bosworthtoller.com/29811.

Checked: 0
Full form

Word-wheel

  • swíma, n.

Copyright

All the data provided here are free for any purpose. If you use the data for academic purposes, we ask that you kindly cite us as your source. In case you need a large portion of the dictionary data or you need it in a specific format, let us know through the contact form, we are happy to do custom database dumps for researchers.

How to cite

You can cite the entries of the online version of the dictionary, or you can cite the scanned pages of the original paper editions.

  • To cite the online version of the dictionary, click the icon right under the entry.
  • To cite the scanned paper version of the dictionary, click the "show/hide this scanned page" link under the entry, check the scan and use the citation information right above it.