An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/beißen

by Friedrich Kluge

beißen, verb, ‘to bite,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bîȥen, Old High German bîȥȥan; cognate with Gothic beitan, Anglo-Saxon bîtan, English to bite. A primitively Teutonic verb with the sense of ‘to bite,’ which has, however, as is shown by the cognate tongues, been specialised from the more general meaning ‘to make smaller, to split with a sharp instrument.’ Compare Latin findo, Sanscrit root bhid, ‘to split, break to pieces’; in Old Teutonic poetry beißen is also used of the sword — a remnant of the earlier meaning. Beil, too, if primitively akin to it, must be connected with Latin findere, ‘to split.’ Compare bitter, which signifies originally ‘piercing.’ From the same root Biß, Middle High German and Old High German biȥ, masculine, is derived, to which Anglo-Saxon bite, English bit, corresponds; Bißchen is a diminutive of it. Modern High German Bissen, from Middle High German biȥȥe, Old High German biȥȥo; Old Low German biti, English bite.