- "to sleep", *swépnos "dream (n.)"
archaic sweven "dream, vision" (< OE
swefn);
NoEng sweb "to swoon" (< OE
swebban "to put to sleep, lull") ON sofa "sleep...
-
competing plurals, one with -u and one
without it. So, "dreams" is
either swefn or swefnu, "sails" is
either seġl or seġlu, and "waters" is
either wæter...
-
uncommon in
words ending with a
short vowel +
single consonant + ⟨n⟩, e.g.
swefn, reġn, stemn,
although a few
spellings with
inserted ⟨e⟩ are
attested early...
