An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Beete

by Friedrich Kluge

Beete, f., ‘beetroot.’ This word, like the names of many other edible vegetables, has come from Lat.; bêta was borrowed even before the 8th cent. and naturalised in Germ., for it appears as bieȥa (the ie from ê, comp. Priester, Brief, Ziegel, Rieme, Spiegel, OHG. Pietar, from Lat. Petrum, &c.), with the permutation of t to ȥ; whence MidHG. bieȥe. The ModHG. Beete may have been based anew on Lat. bêta, or have been taken from the LG. bete, thus displacing the older bieȥe, which is still found in Bav. From Lat. and Rom. bêta (Ital. bieta, F. bette), AS. bête (whence E. beet) is also derived. In another group of words borrowed from Lat., Lat. ê became î (comp. Feier, from fêriae); hence the dial. beisse (ei from MidHG. î) also appears occasionally for beete, bieȥe.