The story
- Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*biwinnan“to acquire, gain”
- Old English · inherited from*bewinnan
- Middle English · inherited frombewinnen
- English todaybewin
From Middle English bewinnen, biwinnen, from Old English *bewinnan, from Proto-West Germanic *biwinnan (“to acquire, gain”), equivalent to be- + win. Cognate with Saterland Frisian bewinne (“to gain, acquire”), Middle Dutch bewinnen (“to cultivate”), Middle High German bewinnen (“to attain, acquire”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.