An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/beide

by Friedrich Kluge

beide, num., ‘both,’ from the equiv. MidHG. beide, béde, m., f., (beidiu, n.); OHG. beide, béde (beido, f., beidiu, n.); OHG. and MidHG. have also a remarkable variant with ê (OHG. and MidHG. bêde), although ei in other instances in HG. is not changed into ê before dentals, In investigating the word beide we must start from the fact that the stem of the num. had really no dental; AS. bêgen, bâ, Goth. bai (OIc. gen. beggja), ‘both.’ Allied in the other Aryan languages to Sans. ubháu, Gr. ἄμφω, Lat. ambo, OSlov. oba, Lith. abù, with a syllable prefixed. The G. forms with a dental are undoubtedly secondary; they obtained their dental by the blending, at a comparatively late period, of the primary ba- with the forms of the article, so that OHG. bêde arose from bê and de, beidiu from bei and diu, MidE. bôthe (E. both) from AS. bâ and þâ (OIc. báþer from bai and þaiz). In Goth. ba is combined with the article ba Þó skipa, ‘both the ships’; similarly in Gr. ἄμφω. By assuming such a combination in West Teut. the following ModHG. dial. forms in all genders are explained • Bav. bed, bod, beid, Suab. bêd, bued, boad, Wetterau bed, bud, bad.