bi

Forms

bī^[1] The usual spelling is the unstressed form be, which Holthausen and Bosworth–Toller treat as the same word.^[2][3] The spelling biġ, found in Beowulf and later texts, is an inverted spelling for bī.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *bī (“near, by, around, about”).^[1] Orel reconstructs Proto-Germanic *bi for Proto-Germanic, the source also of Gothic 𐌱𐌹 (bi, “by, about, over”), Old Frisian bī, Old Saxon bī and Old High German bī, and explains the long vowel of the West Germanic forms as a secondary lengthening of the stressed final vowel.^[6] Köbler and Holthausen give the same cognates.^[7][2]

Orel thinks the word probably belongs with *umbi (“around”), the source of Old English ymbe, and Holthausen also refers to that word.^[6][2] Etymonline derives it from Proto-Indo-European *bʰi, a reduced form of the root of the word for “around”, while Köbler lists several possible preforms of the root with a question mark.^[8][7]

The word had a stressed form ⟨bī⟩ and an unstressed form ⟨be⟩: the stressed form appears in nouns and adjectives, the unstressed one in verbs, and the unstressed ⟨be⟩ came to be used for the independent word as well.^[9][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated record is in the bounds of a charter of King Æthelwulf of Wessex dated 846, whose single sheet is of the mid-ninth century: the boundary runs be ðæm hagan on anne beorge “along the hedge to a hill”.^[10][11] In the Pastoral Care, copied in 890×897, it already has the sense “about, concerning”: Be ðam Crisð selfa cleopode “about that Christ himself cried out”.^[12][11]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller order the senses from place to time and manner: nearness to a point (by, beside), movement along a line or a coast (along, past), then time (during, by), and the senses “about, concerning”, “according to” and “by means of”.^[13][14] In Beowulf it is local (be sǣm twēonum “between the seas”, that is, on earth), temporal (be ðē lifiġendum “while you live”) and “according to” (be fæder lāre).^[5] In the laws it marks the matter of a clause (“concerning”) and fixes a date, as in be Martines mæssan “by Martinmas”.^[15] It also forms phrases of direction such as be norðan “to the north of”.^[15]

The word lived on as Middle English by, now English by, and the unstressed form survives in the verbal prefix English be-.^[1][8]

Timeline

• 846 – be ðæm hagan “along the hedge” in the bounds of Æthelwulf's charter, in a mid-ninth-century single sheet.^[10][11]
• 890×897 – Be ðam “about that” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[12][11]
• s. ix/x – be norðum morum “to the north of the moors” in the Parker Chronicle, annal 565.^[16][11]
• 10th century – wlonc bī wealle “proud by the wall” in The Wanderer.^[1]
• s. x/xi – be sǣm twēonum “between the seas” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[17][5]

Meanings

Preposition

1. by, near, beside, at (of rest or motion towards a place).^[3][5]
2. along, past (of motion along a line, a road or a coast).^[14]
3. (of time) during, at, by.^[18][5]
4. about, concerning.^[3][1]
5. according to, in conformity with; by means of.^[18][5]

Adverb

1. near, by; also following its noun, as him biġ “by him”.^[5][2]

Word family

• bīspell
• bīleofa

Descendants

• Middle English by (→ English by; Scots by; Scots bye)^[1]

Usage notes

Bosworth and Toller note that bī is more often shortened to be, and that in compounds the prefix is mostly written be- or bi-.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 22
3. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 98
4. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 7.75
5. ^ a b c d e f g Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. be
6. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 44
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. be
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Campbell, A. (1959), Old English Grammar, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. § 73
10. ^ a b The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 298
11. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
12. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
13. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 69
14. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 63
15. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 19
16. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 83
17. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344
18. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 33