The story
- Proto-Germanic · inherited from*bistelaną
- Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*bestelan
- Old English · inherited frombestelan
- Middle English · inherited frombistelen
- English todaybesteal
From Middle English bistelen, from Old English bestelan, from Proto-West Germanic *bestelan, from Proto-Germanic *bistelaną, corresponding to be- (“off, away”) + steal. Cognate with Saterland Frisian besteele, Dutch bestelen, German Low German bestehlen, Luxembourgish bestielen, German bestehlen, Swedish bestjäla (“to rob”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.