An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schwingen

by Friedrich Kluge

schwingen, verb, ‘to swing, brandish, wave,’ from Middle High German swingen, swinken, Old High German swingan (swinchan?), ‘to swing, throw, hurl, strike, scourge, vault, fly, soar’; corresponding to Old Saxon swingan, ‘to vault,’ Anglo-Saxon swingan, ‘to scourge, fly, flutter,’ English to swing; from Gothic *swiggwan was formed swaggwjan, ‘to swing about.’ Under schwank and schwenken, an Aryan root swenk, sweng, was adduced; Anglo-Saxon swincan, English to swink, is a variant of Anglo-Saxon swingen, English to swing; compare Dutch zwenken, ‘to swing.’