Swyrd

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic spelling of sword, a long metal blade with a handle used as a weapon for cutting or thrusting
2. An old variant form of sword, referring to a weapon made of a long, sharp blade fitted with a hilt
3. Archaic spelling denoting a bladed weapon, long and sharp, gripped by a handle and used for striking or stabbing

Etymology: The sword family of words is inherited, not borrowed. Old English "sweord" has close relatives across the Germanic languages: Old Norse "sverð", Old High German "swert" (modern German "Schwert") and Dutch "zwaard" all descend from a single Proto-Germanic ancestor. That ancestor is reconstructed rather than recorded, so its original sense can only be guessed. "Swyrd" is an alternate spelling from the Old and Middle English periods, when spelling was not standardised. The "y" stands for a vowel sound that later shifted, and scribes wrote the same word in several ways. The "w" in "sw" was once pronounced, as it still is in related words in other Germanic languages. English lost that sound, but the spelling kept it, which is why the modern form looks different from how it sounds.

Synonyms: blade, sabre, brand