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Origin and history of swap

swap(v.)

c. 1200, swappen, "to strike (with a sword, etc.), strike the hands together," senses now obsolete, a word of uncertain origin, possibly imitative of a hitting or slapping sound. By early 15c. as "strike with the hands."

The sense of "strike a bargain" (late 14c.), hence "to exchange, barter, trade" (by 1590s) perhaps are from the notion of slapping hands together as a sign of agreement in bargaining (as in strike a bargain; strike in this sense of "conclude, reach" is from 15c.). Related: Swapped; swapping. Swap-meet is attested from 1968, American English.

swap(n.)

"a barter, an exchange," 1620s; see swap (v.). Earlier it meant "a stoke, a blow, an act of striking" (mid-13c.); "blow, stroke, lash with a whip" (late 14c.).

also from 1620s

Entries linking to swap

swat(v.)

1796, "to strike, hit," an American and north of England dialect word, possibly an alteration of Middle English swap "to strike, smite" (see swap), probably ultimately of imitative origin. Related: Swatted; swatting. The noun is recorded from 1800, "a blow, a slap."

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    trade
    late 14c., "path, track, course of action," introduced by the Hanse merchants, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German trade "track, course" (probably originally of a ship), cognate with Old English tredan (see tread (v.)). Sense of "one's habitual business" (1540s) developed from
    switch
    1590s, "slender riding whip," probably from a variant of a Flemish or Low German word akin to Middle Dutch swijch "bough, twig," or from swutsche, variant of Low German zwukse "long thin stick, switch," from Germanic *swih- (source also of Old High German zwec "wooden peg," Germa
    barter
    "to traffic or trade by exchanging one commodity for another," mid-15c., apparently from Old French barater "to barter, cheat, deceive, haggle" (also, "to have sexual intercourse"), 12c., which is of uncertain origin, perhaps from a Celtic language (compare Irish brath "treachery
    sound
    c. 1350-1550; there seems to have been a tendency, perhaps for euphony, to add -d- to -n-, and especially to insert or swap...
    horse
    To swap horses while crossing the river (a bad idea) is from the American Civil War and appears to have been originally one...
    go
    Old English gan "to advance, walk; depart, go away; happen, take place; conquer; observe, practice, exercise," from West Germanic *gaian (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian gan, Middle Dutch gaen, Dutch gaan, Old High German gan, German gehen), from PIE root *ghē- "to release,
    tread
    Old English tredan "to tread, step on, trample; traverse, pass over" (class V strong verb; past tense træd, past participle treden), from Proto-Germanic *tred- (source also of Old Saxon tredan, Old Frisian treda, Middle Dutch treden, Old High German tretan, German treten, Gothic
    change
    c. 1200, "to alter, make different, change" (transitive); early 13c. as "to substitute one for another;" mid-13c. as "to make (something) other than what it was, cause to turn or pass from one state to another;" from late 13c. as "to become different, be altered" (intransitive),
    exchange
    late 14c., eschaunge, "act of reciprocal giving and receiving," from Anglo-French eschaunge, Old French eschange (Modern French échange), from Late Latin excambium, from excambiare, from Latin ex "out" (see ex-) + cambire "barter" (see change (v.)). The practice of merchants or l
    travel
    late 14c., "to journey," from travailen (1300) "to make a journey," originally "to toil, labor" (see travail). The semantic development may have been via the notion of "go on a difficult journey," but it also may reflect the difficulty of any journey in the Middle Ages. Replaced

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