bjóða

Forms

bjóða (singular past indicative bauð, plural past indicative buðu, past participle boðinn) (strong)^[1] Viking Age runic [ba]uþ (bauð).^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *beudaną (“to offer, bid”),^[3][4][1] with the cognates Old English bēodan, Old Frisian biāda, Old Saxon biodan and Old High German biotan, and in Gothic only with prefixes, as Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌱𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽 (anabiudan, “to command”).^[3][5]

The root is Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- (“to be awake, aware”),^[1][4] whose descendants elsewhere mean “to wake, notice, find out”: Ancient Greek πεύθομαι (peúthomai, “to learn by inquiry”), Lithuanian bùsti (“to wake up”) and a Sanskrit verb meaning “to wake, notice”.^[5][6][3] De Vries and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon also compare Old Irish buide (“thanks”).^[5][6] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon explains that the root first meant “to be awake, take notice”, and that in the western Indo-European languages it took the causative sense “to draw attention to, warn, command”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the Gotland stone G 280, which Rundata dates to the later 900s or about 1000, with the rune text [ba]uþ (bauð) in a broken passage.^[2] In the manuscripts IcePaHC finds bauð, boðin and býður in a text it dates to 1150,^[7] and the first records ONP dates are from 1200, in the sense “to command”: þa es ér gereþ allt þat es ec býþ ýþr “when you do all that I command you”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

ONP orders the senses as “to make known, proclaim”, “to send word”, “to wish” in greetings, “to command, summon”, “to ask” and “to challenge”, with “to offer” and “to show (someone a kind of treatment)” as further senses.^[8] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon suggests that the sense “to offer” may come from a lost prefix and- and “to command” from a lost ga-.^[6] In a bad sense it means “to inflict” (bjóða e-m ófrið “to make war on someone”).^[9][10] The laws use it most: ONP counts 191 citations in legal works where 76 would be expected.^[8]

The verb continues as Icelandic bjóða, Swedish bjuda and Danish byde.^[6][11] The English word bid goes back partly to the Old English cognate and partly to Old English biddan “to ask”.^[11][12] Scottish Gaelic bòd “offer, bid” has been derived from the Norse verb, but Cox thinks the loan unlikely, since the Norse ⟨ð⟩ would not give a stop in Gaelic.^[13]

Timeline

• Later 900s – about 1000 – [ba]uþ (bauð) on the Gotland stone G 280.^[2]
• 1150 – bauð and boðin in a text dated by IcePaHC.^[7]
• 1200 – “to command”, “to offer” and “to make known” in the homilies HómÍsl and in VerC.^[8]
• 1200–1225 – býðr, bauð, buðu in AM 677 4to.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. to make known, proclaim, preach.^[8]
2. to send word about, to communicate.^[8]
3. as a greeting, to wish;^[8] bjóða góðan dag to bid good day.^[8]
4. to command, order, summon, prescribe.^[8][10]
5. to ask, request.^[8]
6. to challenge someone to something (bjóða hólmgǫngu to a duel).^[8][10]
7. to offer;^[15][10] bjóðask to offer oneself, to volunteer.^[15][10]
8. to do something to someone, in a bad sense;^[15][9] bjóða e-m ófrið to make war on someone.^[15][9]

Word family

• boð
• boði
• fyrirbjóða
• tilbjóða
• yfirbjóða
• umbjóða
• útbjóða

Descendants

• Icelandic bjóða^[1]
• Faroese bjóða^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk bjoda^[1]
• Old Swedish biūþa^[1]
• Swedish bjuda^[1]
• Old Danish biūthæ^[1]
• Danish byde^[1]

Related words

• buðlungr
• býsn

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. G 280
3. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 43
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ a b c de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 40
6. ^ a b c d e Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. bjóða
7. ^ a b Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. bjóða
9. ^ a b c Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. bjóða
10. ^ a b c d e Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 54
11. ^ a b Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. bjuda
12. ^ Falk, Hjalmar; Torp, Alf (1910–1911), Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, p. s.v. byde
13. ^ Cox, Richard A. V. (2024–2026), Old Norse Loan-Words in Scottish Gaelic, Clann Tuirc, richardavcox.scot/ONlwSG, p. s.v. bòd
14. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
15. ^ a b c d Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. bjóða