*bī

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct Proto-West Germanic *bi ~ *bī,^[1] and Wiktionary has *bī.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *bi (“around, by, near”),^[1][3] which Orel writes *ƀi.^[3] Ringe and Taylor hold that word-final vowels of stressed monosyllables were lengthened in Proto-West Germanic, though the examples are few, and they give this word beside *nū "now" and *swā "so".^[1] Since Old Norse lengthened such vowels too, even vowels that became final only in its own history, they take the Norse and West Germanic changes for parallel innovations.^[1] Orel likewise speaks of a secondary lengthening of the stressed final vowel in West Germanic.^[3] EWA sets up a weakly stressed *bi and a strongly stressed, secondarily lengthened *bī already for Proto-Germanic,^[4] and Boutkan and Siebinga say that the monosyllable could be lengthened under stress in Northwest Germanic or weakened under weak stress.^[5]

Morphology

An adverb and preposition, also used as a prefix.^[6][4] Fulk explains the two vowels by stress: like prepositions, prefixes were stressed in nouns and unstressed in verbs, and by Prokosch's law a preposition ending in a vowel was lengthened when stressed, a length that could then spread to the stressed prefixes.^[7] So Old English has be or, stressed, bī, and beside verbs such as begān (“to traverse”) stand nouns such as bīgenga (“inhabitant”) and bīnama (“pronoun”), while Gothic generalised the short vowel.^[7] In Old High German the stressed prefix of nominal compounds could stay bi-, while the unstressed prefix of verbs became be-, throughout in Notker and occasionally earlier.^[4]

Evidence

Ringe and Taylor cite Old Frisian bī, Old English be ~ bī, Old Saxon be ~ bī, and Old High German bi ~ bī.^[1] The Wachtendonck psalms of the 9th century have Old Dutch bi,^[8] and ONW records it in Williram's commentary on the Song of Songs of about 1100.^[9] Findell notes that the runic inscription ⟨bi⟩ on the Hüfingen III fibula, if it is a word at all, could be the adverb or preposition of Old High German or the prefix, after Düwel and Pieper; its meaning is unclear.^[10] Outside West Germanic, Boutkan and Siebinga find the word missing in North Germanic,^[5] whereas EWA cites a runic Norse ⟨bi⟩ on the spear shaft of Kragehul in Denmark, of the 6th century.^[4]

Meanings

1. by, near^[1][2]
2. around^[1][2]
3. at^[2]

Old High German also used the preposition in senses of time, "within, during", of cause, "because of", and of manner, "according to, instead of".^[4] Old Frisian also had "during", "according to" and "at the cost of".^[5]

Derivatives

• Fulk derives Old English blinnan (“to cease”) from West Germanic *bi-linnan, and būtan (“except”) and Old Saxon būtan from *bi-ūtan.^[7]
• De Vaan finds the adverbs formed from *bī and an adverb beginning with a vowel, Dutch binnen (“inside”), buiten (“outside”) and boven (“above”), throughout the Dutch area.^[11]

Reflexes

• Old English: bī (“by, at, with, to, concerning”)^[12]
• Old Frisian: bī (“by, at, beside, together with, during, according to”)^[13]
• Old Saxon: bī (“by, at, through, with, because of, during”)^[14]
• Old Dutch: bī (“by, near”)^[9]
• Old High German: bī (“near; by, beside, at, during, because of”)^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 65
2. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *bī
3. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 44
4. ^ a b c d e f Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. bî
5. ^ a b c Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. bi 1
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. bī
7. ^ a b c Fulk, R. D. (2018), A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages, Studies in Germanic Linguistics 3, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. §5.7
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. bi
9. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. bī
10. ^ Findell, Martin (2012), Phonological Evidence from the Continental Runic Inscriptions, Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 79, Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. § 5.1
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2017), The Dawn of Dutch: Language Contact in the Western Low Countries before 1200, NOWELE Supplement Series 30, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 83
12. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. be, bī
13. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. bī
14. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. bi