An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Schwert

by Friedrich Kluge

Schwert, neuter, ‘sword,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German swërt, neuter; a common Teutonic term; compare the equivalent Old Saxon swerd, Dutch zwaard, Anglo-Saxon sweord, English sword, Old Icelandic sverð. Gothic *swaírda-, neuter, is wanting, haírus being used. This latter term is the earliest recorded in Teutonic; it is preserved in old West Teutonic, almost exclusively in old compounds, and is connected with Sanscrit çáru, masculine, ‘missile, spear.’ The later Old Teutonic term *swerda- has no correspondences in the non-Teutonic languages.