swain

名词 n.
中文释义

英文释义

名词 n.
  1. A young man or boy in service; a servant. obsolete
  2. A knight's servant; an attendant. obsolete
  3. A country labourer; a countryman, a rustic. archaic
    — theſe that ſeeme but ſilly country Swaines, May haue the leading of so great an hoſte, As with their waight ſhal make the mountains quake.
  4. A rural lover; a male sweetheart in a pastoral setting. poetic
    — Why thus from the Plain does my Shepherdess rove Forsaking Her Swain and neglecting his love?

词形变化

swains plural swaine alternative,obsolete swein alternative,obsolete

词汇关系

衍生词
boatswain coxswain swaining swainish swainling swainmote swainship

词源

From Middle English swayn, swain, sweyn, swein, from Old English sweġen (attested also as personal name Swein, Sweġen), from Old Norse sveinn, from Proto-Germanic *swainaz (“relative, young man, servant”), from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“oneself; separate; apart”), thus properly one's own.
Cognate with Danish svend (“hireling, young man”), Norwegian svein (“lad, young man, servant”) Icelandic sveinn (“boy, lad, servant”), Swedish sven (“swain, servant”), Low German Sween, dialectal German Schwein, Old English swān (“swineherd, lad”).
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