An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Bett

by Friedrich Kluge

Bett, n., ‘bed,’ from the equiv. MidHG. bet, bette, OHG. beti, betti, n.; com, AS. bedd, E. bed, Goth. badi. For ModHG. Bett the form Beth is found in the 18th cent. (e.g., in Gessner), just as for Beet this word Bett is used popularly (and in MidHG.); comp. Beet. The signification Beet (‘garden-bed’) makes the connection with the Lat. root in fodio, ‘to bury,’ possible (comp. W. bedd, ‘grave’; also OSlov. bodą, ‘I prick’); Goth. badi (Lat. *fŏdium), might therefore have arisen from Aryan bhodhiom. The primary meaning was probably ‘an excavated spot’; the signification already common to the Teut. group, ‘bed, lectus’ (akin to OSw. bœdhil, ‘nest’), may be elucidated by reference to the cave-dwellings of the Teutons (see Dung). In early times the bed was evidently dug like a niche in the sides of the subterranean dwellings. The meaning ‘bolster,’ common to OIc. beðr and Finn. patja (borrowed from Goth.), does not, it is true, harmonise with this explanation.