c.1150, "young man attendant upon a knight," from O.N.
sveinn "boy, servant, attendant," from P.Gmc.
*swainaz "attendant, servant," prop. “one's own (man),” from PIE
*swoi-no-, from base
*swe- "oneself, alone, apart" (see
idiom). Cognate with O.E.
swan "shepherd, swineherd," O.S.
swen, O.H.G.
swein. Meaning "country or farm laborer" is from 1579; that of "lover, wooer" (in pastoral poetry) is from 1585.
[sweyn] 
,