Etymology

biver

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Today it means: To shiver; to tremble, shake, quiver. Full definition →

Middle English biveren ← Old English beofian ← Proto-West Germanic *bibēn
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*bibāną“to quake, shiver”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*bibēn
  3. Old English · derived frombeofian
  4. Middle English · inherited frombiveren
  5. English todaybiver

From Middle English biveren, beveren (“to tremble”), frequentative form of Old English beofian, bifian (“to tremble, be moved, shake, quake”), from Proto-West Germanic *bibēn, from Proto-Germanic *bibāną (“to quake, shiver”). Cognate with West Frisian bibberje (“to shiver”), Dutch bibberen (“to shiver, quiver”), Low German beveren (“to shiver”), German Low German bevern (“to tremble”), German bibbern (“to shiver”). Related also to Dutch beven (“to quake”), German beben (“to quake, tremble”), Swedish bäva (“to quake, tremble”), Icelandic bifa (“to budge, be moved”), Latin foedus (“disgusting, shocking, abominable, heinous”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.