View source for Swath - swathe

The spellings '''swath''' and '''swathe''', in the more common of the two current [[homograph]]s of '''swathe''', are interchangeable in writing. 
**''[[OED]]'' notes "Evidence is not available for determining the date of the appearance of the form with a long vowel typically represented by the spelling ''swathe'' [{{IPA|sweɪð}}], since in the early periods ''swathe'' , ''swathes'' , are phonetically ambiguous; in modern local use, ''swathe'' is characteristic of the northern counties; its use in literature has probably been furthered by association with [the second meaning of swathe (below)]." ''[[LPD]]'' distinguishes between the pronunciations:
***'''swath''' has the vowel of 'got' and 'odd', {{IPA|ɒ}} or that of 'north' and 'awe',/ɔ:/ (these are the British pronunciations given in ''[[OED]]'' 1989, which treats the pronunciations of both spellings the same). 
***'''swathe''' has the vowel of 'say' and 'day', {{IPA|eɪ}}.
**The word, however spelled or pronounced, means [[literal]]ly 'a row [of wheat or hay, etc] left by one sweep] of a scythe [in hand-mowing]'. It has been much extended in [[figurative]] meanings: some in a visual comparison, such as the '''swathes''' of dead troops 'mown down' by machine-guns, or the strips of damaged buildings left by bombing; or more [[metaphor]]ically 'an area of confusion or damage [in any field]', such as 'the blizzard left a '''swath''' of immobilized vehicles across the city'; 'the Minister's change of policy left a '''swathe''' of disenchanted colleagues in the Party'. The [[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/swathe| ''Cambridge Dictionary'', 2021]] added "a large part of something that includes several different things", citing in evidence "These people represent a broad/wide swathe of public opinion."

*The second current [[homograph]] '''swathe''' (which is not found as '<s>swath</s>') can be a [[verb]] or a [[noun]]. The [[noun]] [[denote]]s 'a strip of cloth or similar' in which something is wrapped, specifically a bandage, or, archaically, '''swaddling clothes''' - the soft blanket in which a baby is wrapped; the [[verb]] 'to '''swathe'''<nowiki>'</nowiki> means 'to wrap up [a baby] in such a blanket'. (The [[synonym]] '''swaddling''' is often used in versions of the story of the birth of Jesus.)


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[[Category:archaic |English]]
[[Category:Bible stories‏‎]]