Talk:swanny

DARE

The Dictionary of American Regional English needed. DCDuring TALK 14:27, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

RFV discussion: July 2015

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swanny

To declare or swear. Can't seem to find anything relevant in Google Books. Equinox ◑ 12:54, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

I recall that my grandmother (born in 1885) used to say "well, I swan," meaning "well, I swear" as a very mild oath (spoken, not written, so I’m guessing at the spelling). —Stephen ^(Talk) 13:28, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

AHD has:

Our Living Language New Englanders sometimes express surprise by saying, "Well, I vum!" This odd-sounding word is in fact an alteration of the verb vow that goes back to the days of the American Revolution. It is also heard simply as "Vum!" or as a sort of past participle: "I'll be vummed!" A Southern equivalent is swan or swanny, also meaning "swear": "Now, I swanny!" According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word swanny derives from the dialect of the north of England: I s' wan ye, "I shall warrant ye" (that is, "I shall guarantee you").

Our entry for swan#Etymology 2 takes the "warrant" tack. DCDuring TALK 14:25, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

This seems like a job for DARE. DCDuring TALK 14:26, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

BTW: I have created {{DARE needed}} to insert on the talk page or entries that have appropriate issues. It is mostly useful via "what links here" from the template when one is in a library that has DARE. DCDuring TALK 14:30, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

What did you search for? Simply searching "I swanny" gets tons of useful cites. I've added three - one 19th, one 20th and one 21st century. Smurrayinchester (talk) 15:53, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

However swanny seems to be used only in the first person present. Perhaps it's appropriate to suppress the inflected forms and treat it as a defective verb. - -sche (discuss) 16:46, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

The other forms do seem exceedin' rare. DCDuring TALK 17:44, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

I think I only searched for "swannying" and "swannied". I think DC is right that the other forms are rare. Equinox ◑ 05:43, 3 July 2015 (UTC)

The citations verify the entry as amended. RFV-passed. - -sche (discuss) 18:41, 5 July 2015 (UTC)