Swith

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. An archaic adverb meaning quickly, promptly, or without delay, as used in older English and Scots writing
2. Archaic term for doing something at speed, rapidly, or immediately, found in old English and Scottish texts
3. Old-fashioned adverb describing an action performed with great haste or at once, now largely obsolete in English

Etymology: "Swith" is an archaic English word meaning "very" or "quickly," and it survives today mostly in the phrase "swithe" and in dialect. Its ancestors meant "strong, mighty, powerful," and the same root gave Old Norse "quick, clever" and modern German "geschwind," meaning fast. The sense of force slid into the sense of intensity: something done strongly is done very much, and something done vigorously is done quickly. The adverb branch follows the same drift. Old English "swīþe" meant "very much, exceedingly, severely, violently, fiercely," so the word began as a word for force and only later became a mere intensifier, much like "awfully" or "mighty" in modern speech. Related forms persist across the Germanic languages, including Dutch "zwijd" and Low German "swied," both meaning "very" or "extremely." Despite the look-alike, "swith" has no connection to "swift." English "swift" comes from a different root meaning to move quickly, while "swith" belongs to the family of words for strength and vigour.