swene
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Unknown. Appears, at about the same time, in both the Chester Plays and the Auchinleck manuscript.
Pronunciation
Noun
swene (plural swenes)
Usage notes
"Swene" is a fossil word and, at present, can probably only be used and understood by a very few deeply rural speakers in the northern parts of England. It is generally found in the archaic phrase make nah swene.
References
- James Orchard Halliwell (1847) “SWENE”, in A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs, from the Fourteenth Century. [...] In Two Volumes, volumes II (J–Z), London: John Russell Smith, […], →OCLC, page 837, column 1.
- The Legend of Pope Gregory