- smite (v.)
- Old English smitan "to hit, strike, beat" (strong verb, past tense smat, past participle smiten), from Proto-Germanic *smitanan (cf. Swedish smita, Danish smide "to smear, fling," Old Frisian smita, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch smiten "to cast, fling," Dutch smijten "to throw," Old High German smizan "to rub, strike," German schmeißen "to cast, fling," Gothic bismeitan "to spread, smear"), perhaps from PIE root *(s)mei- "to smear, to rub," but original sense in Germanic seems to be of throwing. Sense of "slay in combat" (c.1300) is originally Biblical, smite to death, first attested c.1200.