An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Schwamm

by Friedrich Kluge

Schwamm, neuter, ‘sponge, fungus,’ from the equivalent Middle High German swam (mm), swamp (b), masculine, Old High German swam (mm), swamb, masculine; compare Gothic swamms, ‘sponge,’ Old Icelandic svǫppr, ‘‘sponge.’ Within these groups, which are very possibly connected together, we must distinguish three words, probably of different origin, of which the Gothic stems were swamma-, *swamba-, and *swampu-. In Modern High German the first two forms lave been united; to the second form Greek σομφός (for σξο-), ‘spongy, loose, porous,’ is primitively allied; the first is formed from schwimmen.