Interestingly, though swell and svelte are similar and have similar meanings, the words are unrelated:

swell - O.E. swellan "grow or make bigger" (past tense sweall, pp. swollen), from P.Gmc. *swelnanan, of unknown origin. The noun meaning "wealthy, elegant person" is first recorded 1786, the adj. meaning "fashionably dressed or equipped" is 1810, both from the notion of "puffed-up, pompous" behavior. The sense of "good, excellent" first occurs 1897.

from Online Etymology Dictionary

whereas svelte comes from:

svelte - c.1817, from Fr. svelte "slim, slender," from It. svelto "slim, slender," originally "pulled out, lengthened," from pp. of svellere "to pluck or root out," from V.L. *exvellere, from L. ex- "out" + vellere "to pluck, stretch."

So is swell instead related to swill and swallow?

swallow (v.) - "take in through the throat," O.E. swelgan (class III strong verb; past tense swealg, pp. swolgen), from P.Gmc. *swelkh-/*swelg-. Sense of "consume, destroy" is attested from early 14c. Cognate with O.N. svelgr "whirlpool," lit. "devourer, swallower." Meaning "to accept without question" is from 1591.
swill - O.E. swilian, swillan "to wash, gargle," from P.Gmc. *sweljanan. Meaning "drink greedily" is from c.1530; the noun sense of "liquid kitchen refuse fed to pigs" is 1553, from the verb.

American Heritage says that swill and swallow come from PIE swel-, "to eat or drink." It is also interesting that the Proto-Germanic versions of swell and swill differ by only one letter. Swell seems related to swel- in the sense that something that eats a lot would get bigger. Online Etymology lists P.Gmc. *swelnanan (the precursor to swell) as of unknown origin but it seems that the root of the first syllable at least should not be in doubt.

Interesting, too, that swell (to grow larger) and great (large) should come to mean good in slang or informal use.

Bigger really is better!

-Tim

From a former lurker now putting in my 2 cents worth:
In an episode of "I Love Lucy" (a beloved American TV situation comedy from the past, for those who have not heard of it), Lucy, her Cuban-American husband Ricky, and their neighbors Fred and Ethel hired a teacher to help them learn to speak "high class" English. He told them, "There are two words you must never use: one is ‘swell’ and the other is ‘lousy.’" They asked him, "What are the two words?"

No, Agorahol would be the addictive substance. We’d be Agoraholics. 8)

Fortunately, we have yet to see mass media embrace -aholic constructions, as we’d soon be bombarded with crackaholics, drugaholics and waraholics.

Tony, who thinks government is run by taxaholics

I was wondering just how a word meaning "tumesce" came to mean "good, excellent."  (Not that there has to be a logical or known explanation!)

swell - O.E. swellan "grow or make bigger" (past tense sweall, pp. swollen), from P.Gmc. *swelnanan, of unknown origin. The noun meaning "wealthy, elegant person" is first recorded 1786, the adj. meaning "fashionably dressed or equipped" is 1810, both from the notion of "puffed-up, pompous" behavior. The sense of "good, excellent" first occurs 1897.

ETYMOLOGY Sw-Sy

Sitran

Geological comparisons to genitals…......
Katy

(Silent scream!)  I can’t believe you said that!

Sitran

You are right, Katy!  I guess "tumesce" was rather provocative!

I’ll take the blame for this one!

If I hadn’t PW wouldda said worse, or Coem, or DJ.

Quite right! Perhaps they’ll miss it!

I’ve got to be more careful!

Sitran

PW wouldda said worse

Huh? Moi?

Rock formations really don’t interest me that much.

Getting back to the original post (heaven help me),

swell and svelte are similar and have similar meanings

I don’t think they have similar meanings at all. Svelte, if I recall, means skinny to the point of anorexia. The Swedish word for starvation is "svält".

Swell seems to me to have more to do with the actions of a rooster, who puffs himself up to make an impression. Several birds do this as part of the mating ritual. After all, a snooty person used to be known as a "swell". Certainly, I get fowl implications rather than foul ones.

- PW

[quote author=Palewriter link=board=todays;num=1071601026;start=0#11 date=12/17/03 at 22:57:19]I don’t think they have similar meanings at all. Svelte, if I recall, means skinny to the point of anorexia. The Swedish word for starvation is "svält".

yourDictionary entry:

svelte - adj. Slender or graceful in figure or outline; slim.

I goofed. Although both swell and svelte can connote a certain air of sophistication, each describes a different manifestation of such.

[quote author=Sitran link=board=todays;num=1071601026;start=0#6 date=12/17/03 at 18:13:24]I was wondering just how a word meaning "tumesce" came to mean "good, excellent."  (Not that there has to be a logical or known explanation!)

Who knows ? Perhaps, in the course of time, «tumescent» will become synonymous with «good» (in the event it did not do so long ago, as in «A good man is hard to find» and its variants). I can hear the dialogue in my mind’s ear :

—What a tumescent day !
—‘Bout time !

Henri