n.
Gaw bitte, bytte
‘blade, cutting edge’
(Modern English bit)There are various early Gmc nouns ultimately formed on the zero-grade of the v. *ƀītan-, including two possible OE sources for ME bit: wk. masc. OE bita ‘bit, morsel’ (cp. OIcel biti ‘bite, mouthful, (cut-off) piece; (of an earmark) “bite”, bite-shaped incision, canine tooth, eye tooth; crossbeam’, OFris -bita ‘piece’, OHG bizzo ‘bit, wedge’), and masc. i-stem OE bite ‘bite, sting (or resulting wound); pain; cut of a sword or weapon; grip of bonds (etc.)’ (cp. OFris bit(e), OS biti, OHG biz). There is also a neut. a-stem represented by OIcel bit ‘biting, bit, wound after a bite, (insect) bite; grazing, pasture; (of a weapon) ability to bite/cut, sharpness’ (cp. OHG gi-piz ‘rein, bit’) with no clear cognates in OE (but cp. perhaps OE gebitt ‘biting, gnashing’). The OE words are attested mainly with resultative meanings, but most authorities are nonetheless content with a native etymon (thus OED, MED and GDS). The sense development leads TGD and McGee (323), however, to suggest derivation from ON bit.
PGmc Ancestor
*ƀīt-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
bit ‘biting, bit, wound after a bite, (insect) bite; grazing, pasture; (of a weapon) ability to bite/cut, sharpness’
(ONP bit (sb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far bit, Icel bit, Norw bit, ODan bid, Dan bid, Sw bett
OE Cognate
bita ‘bit, morsel’; bite ‘bite, sting'; gebitt 'biting, gnashing'
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
CC3
MED’s senses (1b) (‘the blade or cutting edge (of a sword, battle-ax, etc.); the point (of a spear)’ and (1c) (‘the fluke (of an anchor); the tip (of a bird’s bill)’) are exemplified by eight citations apart from Gaw, including several from alliterative verse, but without clear dial bias. See VEPN for place-name attestations, probably meaning ‘small piece of land’ or ‘food for animals’, ‘pasturage’. EDD records usage in various MnE dial.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 212, 426, 2224 etc.