bitten

Forms

bitten (class 5 strong, third-person singular present bittet, past tense bat, past participle gebeten, past subjunctive bäte, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German bitten, inherited from Old High German bitten (“to ask, beg, pray”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *biddjan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *bidjaną (“to ask, request”).^[2][3][1] Kluge and Kroonen reconstruct the Germanic strong verb with /e/, as *bedja-.^[2][4] The same word is Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (bidjan), Old Norse biðja, Old English biddan, Old Frisian bidda and Old Saxon biddian, continued in Dutch bidden, English bid and Swedish bedja.^[2][4] The English verb early merged with the descendant of bēodan (“to offer, command”).^[3]

Its further origin is disputed.^[4][5][6] Kluge holds that the verb matches in every detail, including the rare e-grade of a present with /j/, Old Irish guidid (“asks, prays”) and an Avestan verb meaning “I ask”, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰedʰ- (“to ask, desire”), and regards this as one of the strongest proofs that Indo-European /gʷʰ/ became /b/ at the start of a Germanic word.^[2] Kroonen also finds this link, with Ancient Greek ποθέω (pothéō, “to desire, long for”), the most attractive, but stresses that it depends on that disputed sound change.^[4] Pfeifer weighs a root Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to bend, press”), with Sanskrit बाधते (bā́dhate, “presses, forces”), against a connection with Middle High German beiten (“to press, compel”) and Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (baidjan, “to compel”), from the root of πείθω (peíthō, “to persuade”).^[5] The Duden dictionaries favour the second, explaining the sense as “to bind someone (by a promise or agreement)”.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German bitten is first recorded in glosses of 765 and is frequent in the texts: the Benedictine Rule, Isidor, the Freising Paternoster, the Lorsch confession, the Murbach Hymns, Otfrid, Tatian and Notker.^[8][9] It meant “to ask, request, implore” and also “to pray”, with the genitive or accusative of what was asked for.^[9][3] The Tatian (800/10) renders John 17:15 as ni bittih thaz du sie nemes fon mittil garte (“I do not ask that you take them out of the world”).^[10]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German it could also mean “to summon (before a court), to wish, to bid, to command”.^[5] In Early New High German it partly merged with beten “to pray”.^[11] The verb originally took the accusative of the person and the genitive of the thing; the genitive was replaced by um, or sometimes by an accusative, as in Luther's so ihr den Vater etwas bitten werdet in meinem Namen.^[12]

From the sense of a request came that of an invitation, jemanden zu Gaste bitten in Adelung, and the question Darf ich bitten? when asking someone to dance.^[12] The polite formula bitte and the noun Bitte belong here.^[2] Compounds are Bittschrift (17th century, for Latin supplicatio), Bittsteller (18th century, replacing Supplikant) and Bittgang (19th century, for a procession).^[6] Hungarian borrowed pitizik “to beg” (1900).^[13]

Timeline

• 765 – Old High German bitten in glosses.^[8]
• 800/10 – The Old High German Tatian uses it in John 17:15.^[10]
• c. 1060 – Otloh's prayer: bito ih daz du mir gilazzast (“I pray that you grant me”).^[10]
• 17th century – Bittschrift “petition”.^[6]
• 18th century – Bittsteller “petitioner”.^[6]
• 1900 – Hungarian pitizik “to beg”.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To ask, make a request (for something, with um): um Geduld bitten.^[7][1]
2. To ask someone (for something), beg: Sie bat ihren Bruder um ein Darlehen.^[7][1]
3. (formal) To intercede (for someone).^[7]
4. To invite: die Nachbarn zum Kaffee bitten.^[7][1]
5. To ask someone to come to a particular place.^[7]

Word family

• verbitten
• bitte
• Bittschrift
• Bittsteller
• abbitten
• ausbitten
• erbitten
• Bitte
• Fürbitte

Related words

• beten
• Gebet
• English bid

Usage notes

Bitten und betteln is to plead insistently, and Ich muss doch sehr bitten! is an exclamation of indignant protest.^[7] Ich bitte dich! introduces an objection, especially in southern Germany.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 127
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
6. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
7. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 52
10. ^ a b c 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, 310
11. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
12. ^ a b c Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
13. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de