Journal of Indo-European Studies 37 / 3-4 (2009) 461-488

There is no compelling etymology for the Germanic word for sword (OHG swert, OE sweord). This paper argues that this word is related to Cuneiform Luvian ši(ḫ)u̯al ‘dagger’: both words are derived from a stem *seh2u- ‘sharp’. Gmc. *su̯erða-n goes back to a substantivized adjective *sh2u̯er-tó- ‘sharp’ (with a loss of the laryngeal already in the protolanguage), derived from a locative *sh2u̯er (compare *ĝhei̯m-ento- ‘wintry’ from *ĝhei̯m-en ‘in winter’).