Etymology

bestand

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Today it means: To stand by or near; stand around. Full definition →

Middle English bistanden ← Old English bestandan ← Proto-West Germanic *bistandan
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*bistandaną“to surround, support”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*bistandan
  3. Old English · inherited frombestandan
  4. Middle English · inherited frombistanden
  5. English todaybestand

From Middle English bistanden, bestanden, from Old English bestandan, from Proto-West Germanic *bistandan, from Proto-Germanic *bistandaną (“to surround, support”). Equivalent to be- (“around, by”) + stand.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.