Date:  Mon, 7 Nov 1994 22:09:34 EST

From:  Larry Horn <LHORN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU>

Subject: Re: 'swan' in TX, ARK



Has someone yet mentioned during this thread that the OED lists the verb as

derived from a 'prob. north. Eng. dial. I s'wan 'I shall warrant', i.e. 'I'll

be bound', and says it was later taken as (folk-etymologized to) a 'minicing

substitute for 'swear'. First citation is 1832. There's another slang verb,

also largely attested in 'exclamatory asseveration' (don't you just love

'em?), of the form 'swanny', derived by the OED from 'I shall warrant ye'.

Anybody ever heard that one? Prob'ly not, I swanny. (No relation to the

"Swanny" River, I don't guess.)



--Larry