bana (Swedish)

Where does "bana" come from?

The Swedish noun 'bana' traces its origins through Middle Low German 'bāne'[1]. This traveled back through Old Saxon '*bana'[1], Proto-West Germanic '*banu'[1], and Proto-Germanic '*banō'[1], which stems ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root '*gʷʰen-' meaning 'to strike, kill'[2].

Open questions

• The intermediate historical forms such as Old Saxon '*bana' and Proto-West Germanic '*banu' are reconstructed forms rather than directly attested ancient text. [1]

Full etymology tree

• bana (Swedish), 'a trajectory, a course, a path (path that something moves along, especially in physics, astronomy, or the like)'
  • borrowed bāne (Middle Low German)
    • inherited *bana (Old Saxon)
      • inherited *banu (Proto-West Germanic)
        • inherited *banō (Proto-Germanic), 'a battlefield'
          • derived *gʷʰon-eh₂ (Proto-Indo-European)
            • derived *gʷʰen- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to strike, slay, kill'

Ancestors

• *banō (Proto-Germanic)
• *gʷʰen- (Proto-Indo-European)

Descendants and derived words

• badmintonbana (Swedish)
• bana väg (Swedish)
• bancykling (Swedish)
• banhoppning (Swedish)
• berg- och dalbana (Swedish)
• berg-och-dal-bana (Swedish)
• bergochdalbana (Swedish)
• cykelbana (Swedish)
• dansbana (Swedish)
• förortsbana (Swedish)
• gångbana (Swedish)
• glidbana (Swedish)

Sources

1. bana (Swedish) - Wiktionary
2. banō (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris