swathe v.

Old English swæð, swaðu "track, footstep, trace, scar, vestige," from Proto-Germanic *swathan, *swatho (source also of Old Frisian swethe "boundary made by a scythe," Middle Dutch swade, Dutch zwade, German Schwad "a row of cut grass"); of uncertain origin. Meaning "a mown crop lying on the ground" is from early 14c.; that of "space covered by the single cut of a scythe" emerged late 15c., and that of "a strip, lengthwise extent" is from c. 1600.

"bind (an infant, etc.) with long strips of cloth," a mid-15c. alteration of Middle English swathlen (c. 1200), which is probably a frequentative form of Old English swaþian (see swathe). Related: Swaddled; swaddling.

Phrase swaddling clothes for "band of linen for swaddling an infant" is from Coverdale's 1535 translation of Luke ii.7.

Young children ... are still bandaged in this manner in many parts of Europe to prevent them from using their limbs freely, owing to a fancy that those who are left free in infancy become deformed. [Century Dictionary, 1891]

Wycliffe used swathing-clothes (late 14c.).