Etymologically
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bieten

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈbiːtən/[1]

Forms

bieten (class 2 strong, third-person singular present bietet, past tense bot, past participle geboten, past subjunctive böte, auxiliary haben)[1] The older present forms beutst, beut were common in prose until the first half of the 18th century and later survived in poetry.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German bieten, inherited from Old High German biotan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *beudan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *beudaną (“to offer, bid”).[4][1][5] The same verb is Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌱𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽 (anabiudan, “to command”) and 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌱𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽 (faurbiudan, “to forbid”), Old Norse bjóða, Old English bēodan, Old Frisian biada and Old Saxon biodan, and today Dutch bieden and Swedish bjuda.[4][6][5] The English verb bid continues the Old English verb, merged with the verb corresponding to bitten.[6][5]

The root is Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ-, whose meanings Kluge traces back to “bring to awareness, become aware”: Sanskrit बोधति (bódhati, “wakes, observes, understands”), Ancient Greek πεύθομαι (peúthomai, “to learn, inquire”), Old Church Slavonic бъдѣти (bŭděti, “to be awake”) and Lithuanian bùsti (“to wake up”).[4][6][7] How the Germanic sense “to offer” developed from this is not clear;[4][8] Kluge thinks that prefixed verbs played a part.[4][8] Pfeifer and the Duden mention the name of the Buddha, “the awakened one”, from the same Sanskrit root.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded at the end of the 8th century in the Old High German Isidor, in the isolated sense “to proclaim, teach”: in dhem dhrim heidim scal man ziuuaare eina gotnissa beodan “in the three persons one must proclaim one Godhead”.[3][9] Otfrid (863–871) and Notker use it for “to offer, hold out”.[3][10]

Semantic evolution

Paul distinguishes an older sense “to let know, announce”, which lives on in entbieten and is connected with Bote and verbieten, and the sense “to hold out, offer”, which is usual today.[2] The simple verb could also mean “to command”, the sense later taken over by gebieten.[7][11] In Middle High German hōhe bieten meant to stake high in a game.[12]

Fixed phrases include jemandem die Hand bieten “to help, offer reconciliation” and jemandem die Stirn bieten “to defy someone”.[2][13] The reflexive sich etwas bieten lassen “to put up with something” and the sense “to bid at an auction” belong to modern German.[2][13]

Timeline

  • Late 8th century – Old High German biotan appears in Isidor.[3][9]
  • 863–871 – Otfrid uses it in the sense “to offer”.[3]
  • 1741 – Frisch records the sense “to summon” as obsolete.[2]
  • First half of the 18th century – The present forms beut, beutst go out of ordinary use.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To offer, make available: jemandem eine Stelle bieten.[13][1]
  2. To bid, make an offer at an auction or in a card game.[13][1]
  3. (reflexive) To arise, present itself: eine Chance bietet sich.[13][1]
  4. (formal) To hold out, hand: jemandem den Arm bieten.[13]
  5. To present, show: einen traurigen Anblick bieten.[13]
  6. In sich etwas bieten lassen: to put up with something.[13]

Word family

  • anbieten
  • Angebot
  • aufbieten
  • Aufgebot
  • darbieten
  • Darbietung
  • entbieten
  • erbieten
  • Ehrerbietung
  • gebieten
  • Gebieter
  • gebieterisch
  • Gebiet
  • Gebot
  • verbieten
  • Verbot
  • überbieten
  • unterbieten
  • feilbieten
  • Bieter
  • Bote
  • Büttel
  • English bid

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  3. ^ a b c d e Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, Neubearbeitung (1965–2018), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 9 vols. (A–F), Leipzig / Stuttgart: Hirzel, p. 5, 206
  4. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 121
  5. ^ a b c Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 2, 90
  6. ^ a b c d Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  7. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 148
  8. ^ a b Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 51
  11. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
  12. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 269
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag