*badi

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *badi for the nominative and accusative singular, beside the stem *baddj- of the other forms,^[1] and Wiktionary has *badi.^[2] It continues inherited from Proto-Germanic *badją (“bed”),^[3][1] which Kroonen cites by its stem *badja- and Orel as *ƀađjan.^[4][5] Ringe and Taylor show by relic Old High German spellings such as ⟨beti⟩ that *badją became *badi before the West Germanic gemination; the usual nominative and accusative forms, Old English bedd, Old Saxon bed and Old High German betti, have the geminate by levelling from the rest of the paradigm, where the cluster *dj survived to be geminated.^[3] In Old English the levelled stem became *bæddj, the source of the attested form.^[1]

Morphology

A neuter ja-stem.^[6][7] EWA explains the modern pair German Beet (“flowerbed”) and Bett (“bed”) from the two stems, the nominative singular without gemination and the other cases with it.^[6]

Evidence

The word is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English bedd, Old Frisian bed, Old Saxon bed and Old High German betti,^[1] and Old Dutch beddi in Williram's commentary on the Song of Songs of about 1100.^[8] Old Saxon also has the form beddi in the Heliand.^[9]

Competing analyses

Krogh explains the difference between the forms as a shared innovation: the paradigm had *badi without gemination in the nominative and accusative singular, because the vocalic *-i could not cause it, and *baddj- with gemination elsewhere.^[10] English, Frisian and Saxon then together brought the geminate into the nominative and accusative singular before *-i was lost after a heavy syllable, while High German generalised it only after that loss, hence the contrast of Old English bed, Old Frisian bed and Old Saxon bed with Old High German betti.^[10] He explains late Old Saxon forms that agree with Old High German as levelled after the heavy-stemmed ja-stems, perhaps sped up by High German influence, and rejects the older view that all the West Germanic languages took the geminate before the loss of *-i and that only High German later added the -i.^[10]

Meanings

1. bed^[3][2]
2. plot of ground, flowerbed^[2]

Old English and Old High German also used the word for a flowerbed,^[11][6] and Old Frisian figuratively for marriage.^[12] EWA takes the original meaning to have been a sleeping place dug into the ground, and thinks the senses "flowerbed" and "riverbed" more probably later figurative uses of "bed" than relics of it.^[6]

Derivatives

• *baddjōn "to prepare a bed, to provide with a bed", which Wiktionary reconstructs from forms such as Old English beddian.^[13]
• *dauþabadi "deathbed", which Wiktionary reconstructs from forms such as Old English dēaþbedd;^[14] the Old Frisian compound is dādbed.^[12]

Reflexes

• Old English: bedd (“bed, flowerbed”)^[11]
• Old Frisian: bed (“bed; marriage”)^[12]
• Old Saxon: bed (“bed”)^[15]
• Old Dutch: beddi (“bed”)^[8]
• Old High German: betti (“bed, couch, cushion, flowerbed”)^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 238
2. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *badi
3. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 47
4. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 46
5. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 32
6. ^ a b c d e 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. betti
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. bėd
8. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. beddi
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. bėddi
10. ^ a b c Krogh, Steffen (1996), Die Stellung des Altsächsischen im Rahmen der germanischen Sprachen, Studien zum Althochdeutschen 29, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
11. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. bėdd
12. ^ a b c Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. bed
13. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *baddjōn
14. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *dauþabadi
15. ^ Berr, Samuel (1971), An Etymological Glossary to the Old Saxon Heliand, Berne / Frankfurt: Herbert Lang, p. 49