An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Bischof

by Friedrich Kluge

Bischof, masculine, ‘bishop,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bischof (v), Old High German biscof (to which Bistum is related); Dutch bisschop, Anglo-Saxon bisceop, English bishop, with the same meaning. In Gothic with a closer adherence to the primitive form (ἐπίσκοπος) aípiskaúpus. This widely diffused word was probably adopted, like the Arianism of the Goths (compare Kirche), from the Greeks without passing through Romance. The Latin-Romance origin is indeed supported by the initial b as well as the loss of the original e at the beginning; compare Italian vescovo, Old French vesque (also evesque, Modern French évêque, and Old Irish epscop). Compare further Old Slovenian jepĭskopŭ.