Sweyn

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. To lose consciousness or fall into a faint, typically as a result of shock or weakness
2. To pass out or collapse momentarily due to sudden illness, fear, or physical distress
3. To undergo a temporary loss of awareness or fall unconscious from exhaustion or emotional turmoil

Etymology: "Sweyn" is a proper name rather than an everyday English word, and its story begins with a word for a young male servant. In Old Norse, "sveinn" meant "boy" or "servant," and it was also used as a personal name. The Norse name was carried into the English-speaking world by the Danish king Sveinn Forkbeard, who conquered England in 1013 and ruled it briefly before his death in 1014. The same Old Norse root gave English the word "swain," which entered the language as a doublet of "sweyn." Both descend from the same source but arrived through different routes, so one survived as a rustic lover in poetry while the other stayed a personal name. The original sense of "boy" or "attendant" is preserved in that older meaning of "swain" as a servant or youth.