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Bie

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Bil

Biese, Bise, f., ‘north-east wind,’ earlier, Beiswind (with the regular ei), from the equiv. bī̆se, OHG. bī̆sa, whence Fr. bise. A Teut. root bī̆s, bī̆z, ‘to rush in excitedly,’ also appears in MidHG. and ModHG. (dial.), bisen, ‘to run about like cattle tormented by horse-flies’ (with this is connected ModHG. dial. beiern, with a change of s into r, in Hess. and Henneberg., with the same meaning); comp. further OSw. bĭsa, ‘to run,’ Dan. bisse, ‘to run excitedly.’ Perhaps the root bi, ‘to tremble,’ is nearly akin.

Biest, m., in Biestmilch, from the equiv. MidHG. biest, OHG. biost, m.; comp. AS. beóst, and its deriv. AS. bŷsting, E. beastings, biestings. ModHG. dialects have also remarkable parallel forms with br, like OIc. á-brystur, ‘beastings,’ e.g. Swiss briešt (brieš), which may be connected with Brust, OHG. brust, AS. breóst. Beyond the Teut. group (whence OFr. bet, ModFr. béton is borrowed) the stem has not yet been traced; it is most frequently compared with the equiv. Gr. πῦός, Sans. pîyûša. Yet a Teut. root bius seems to underlie biese, beise, ‘to milk,’ in the Wetterau dial.

bieten, vb., ‘to offer, make a bid,’ from MidHG. bieten, OHG. biotan, ‘to offer, present, command’ (similar meanings are united in the MidHG. word for befehlen); AS. beódan, ‘to announce, offer’; E. bid combines the meanings of Germ. bieten and bitten. Goth. anabiudan, ‘to command, arrange,’ faúrbiudan, ‘to forbid’ (OHG. farbiotan, MidHG. verbieten, AS. forbeódan, E. forbid). Goth. biudan, as well as the whole of this class, points to a pre-Teut. root bhudh; Gr. πυθ (according to the well-known rule for φυθ) in πυνθάνομαι, πυθέσθαι ‘to ask, demand, learn by asking, hear,’ approaches one of the meanings of the Teut. vb.; the latter has an active signification ‘to publish, communicate,’ while the Gr. middle vb. means ‘to know by report, obtain information.’ With the sensuous meaning of HG. bieten is connected the OInd. root budh (for bhudh), ‘to make a present to one’; yet it most frequently means ‘to be watchful, astir,’ then ‘to observe, notice’; and with this is associated OBulg. bŭděti, Lith. buděti, ‘to awake’; Lith. budrùs, ‘watchful’; also Lith. baústi, ‘to chastise,’ and OIr. buide, ‘thanks.’ It is a prim. Aryan verbal stem with a great variety of meanings, the chief of which are ‘to present (make a present to one) — to enjoin

(to command, communicate) — to be active, awake.’ To the same stem belongs an OTeut. word for ‘table, dish’ (both conceived as the dispensers of food?), which has been mentioned under Beute (Goth. biuþs, AS. beód), also bote, from MidHG. bote, OHG. boto (AS. boda, whence E. to bode), lit. ‘herald.’

Bifang, m., ‘enclosure, ridge,’ from MidHG. bívanc, m., ‘circuit, ridge between furrows,’ OHG. bífang, ‘circuit,’ from bifãhan, ‘comprise, encircle.’ With respect to the accented verbal prefix in the subst. compound, comp. bei, where ‘around’ is also quoted as one of the OTeut. meanings of bi. Bifang (in opposition to Beispiel, bîspel) retains, like bieder, the old short verbal prefix; comp. bieder, Bild, Beunde.

bigott, adj., ‘bigoted,’ first occurs in ModHG., borrowed from Fr. bigot, but based in spelling on Gott.

Bilch, f., ‘dormouse,’ from the equiv. MidHG. bilch, OHG. bilich (whence OBulg. plŭchŭ, ‘dormouse,’ is borrowed?); bil- is primit. cognate with W. bele, ‘marten.’

Bild, n., ‘image, portrait, representation,’ from MidHG. bilde, OHG. bilidi, n., ‘image, figure, parable, prototype'; similarly OSax. bilithi; there is no corresponding word in E. or Goth. (*biliþi). The derivation from a stem bil-, with which Beil has been absurdly connected, is untenable; bi- is probably the prep. be- (comp. bieder, Bifang, Binse); *liþi is allied to liþu-, ‘limb’ (see Glied); the compound signifies lit. ‘a copy of a limb, counterfeit limb’?. It is impossible to connect it with E. build, which belongs rather to AS. bold, ‘a building,’ and bauen.

Bill f., from the equiv. E. bill, which, with Fr. billet, belongs to MidLat. billa, bulla.

Bille, f., ‘hatchet,’ from MidHG. bil (gen. billes), ‘pickaxe,’ OHG. bill; AS. bill, ‘sword,’ E. bill (‘sword, chopper,’ also ‘axe’); not cognate with Beil.

billig, adj., adv., ‘reasonable (-ably), cheap (-ly),’ for an earlier billich, used even in the last century, from MidHG. billîch, OHG. (recorded since Williram) billîch (adv. MidHG. billîche, OHG. billîhho). ‘conformable, becoming’; cognate with AS. bilewit, MidE. bilewit, ‘simple, innocent.’ It has been said, without sufficient reason, that this class was borrowed from Kelt. Comp. other cognates under Weichbild, Unbill.