schwören

== German == === Etymology === From Middle High German swern, from Old High German swerien, sweren, from Proto-West Germanic *swarjan, from Proto-Germanic *swarjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *swer-. Compare Low German swören, sweren, Hunsrik schweere, Dutch zweren, English swear, Danish sværge, Swedish svära. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ʃvøːʁən/ Rhymes: -øːʀən, -øːʁən === Verb === schwören (class 6 strong, third-person singular present schwört, past tense schwor or (archaic) schwur, past participle geschworen, past subjunctive schwöre or schwüre, auxiliary haben) (intransitive or transitive) to swear; to take an oath [with accusative ‘an oath, a statement, loyalty, etc.’, along with dative ‘to someone’, along with auf (+ accusative) ‘on/by the Bible/etc.’ or bei (+ dative) ‘by God or other deity’] Ich schwöre es dir. ― I swear it to you. Sie hat mir Treue geschworen. ― She swore me loyalty. Er hat einen Eid geschworen. ― He swore an oath. (intransitive) to swear by; to be convinced of; to like [with auf (+ accusative) ‘something’] ==== Usage notes ==== That which is invoked during the oath is given with the prepositions bei (“by”) or auf (“on”). The latter is chiefly used with something one holds or touches while swearing, e.g. auf die Bibel (“on the Bible”). Otherwise bei is more common and it is generally only appropriate with people or living beings, e.g. bei Gott (“by God, to God”). The subject or topic of the oath is given with the preposition auf, e.g. ich würde nicht darauf schwören (“I wouldn’t swear on it”). Only this preposition is also used in the idiom “to swear by”. Hence, the German idiom may mean that one vouches for the quality or effectiveness of something, rather than that one cherishes it so much as to invoke it in one’s oaths. ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Synonyms ==== (to swear): geloben; versprechen (both narrower) ==== Derived terms ==== Schwören, Schwörung schwörend, geschworen abschwören, beschwören, einschwören, verschwören, zuschwören Stein und Bein schwören ==== Related terms ==== Schwur === Further reading === “schwören”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎[1] (in German) “schwören” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon “schwören” in Duden online “schwören” in OpenThesaurus.de