An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Beete

by Friedrich Kluge

Beete, feminine, ‘beetroot.’ This word, like the names of many other edible vegetables, has come from Latin; bêta was borrowed even before the 8th century and naturalised in German, for it appears as bieȥa (the ie from ê, compare Priester, Brief, Ziegel, Rieme, Spiegel, Old High German Pietar, from Latin Petrum, &c.), with the permutation of t to ȥ; whence Middle High German bieȥe. The Modern High German Beete may have been based anew on Latin bêta, or have been taken from the Low German bete, thus displacing the older bieȥe, which is still found in Bavarian. From Latin and Romance bêta (Italian bieta, F. bette), Anglo-Saxon bête (whence English beet) is also derived. In another group of words borrowed from Latin, Latin ê became î (compare Feier, from fêriae); hence the dialectic beisse (ei from Middle High German î) also appears occasionally for beete, bieȥe.