bitan

Forms

bītan (strong class 1; third-person singular present bītt, past singular bāt, past plural biton)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *bītan, from Proto-Germanic *bītaną (“to bite”).^[1][2] The strong verb is shared by all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐌱𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (beitan), Old Norse bíta, Old Frisian bīta, Old Saxon bītan and Old High German bīzan.^[2][3]

Kroonen derives it from a thematic present *bʰéid-e-, and Köbler from the root Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to split”), the root of Latin findō (“to split”) and a Sanskrit verb for splitting.^[2][4][3][5] Etymonline explains the sense: the Germanic derivatives of the root came to refer to biting.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Exeter Book (s. x²), in a riddle whose subject says biteð mec on bær lic “bites me on the bare body” and Monnan ic ne bite, nympþe he me bite “I bite no man unless he bites me”.^[7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give the sense to bite with the teeth, glossing Latin “mordere”, and a figurative sense of a sword, to cut or wound: in Beowulf the hero finds that the sword will not bite.^[9][5] Toller's Supplement adds the gnashing of teeth and the biting of a sharp, pungent fluid in the medical texts.^[10] Ælfric uses it of Stephen's persecutors, who biton heora tetð him togeanes “gnashed their teeth at him”.^[11][8] In the Lindisfarne and Rushworth glosses it renders Latin “discerpere”, to tear.^[9][10][4]

The word lived on as Middle English biten, now bite.^[12][6]

Timeline

• s. x² – Monnan ic ne bite, nympþe he me bite in an Exeter Book riddle.^[7][8]
• s. x ex. – biton heora tetð in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[11][8]
• s. x/xi – the sword that would not bite in the Beowulf manuscript.^[5][9]
• c. 1275 – Middle English bat, of a sword cutting into a helmet, in Laȝamon's Brut.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. to bite with the teeth; to gnash the teeth.^[9][10]
2. to tear.^[4]
3. of a sword, to cut, wound.^[9][5]
4. of a pungent substance, to bite, sting.^[10]

Word family

• ābītan
• bebītan
• forbītan
• onbītan

Descendants

• Middle English biten (→ English bite; Scots bite)^[1]

Related words

• bita
• bite
• biter
• bitela
• bǣtan

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 65
3. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 24
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. bītan
5. ^ a b c d 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. bītan
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ 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. 223
8. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 105
10. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 95
11. ^ 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. 407
12. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)