both

The story

1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*bai
2. Old Norse · derived frombáðir
3. Old English · inherited frombā þā“both the; both those”
4. Middle English · derived frombothe
5. English todayboth

From Middle English bothe, boþe, from Old English bā þā (“both the; both those”) and possibly reinforced by Old Norse báðir, from Proto-Germanic *bai. Cognate with Saterland Frisian bee (“both”), West Frisian beide (“both”), Dutch beide (“both”), German beide (“both”), Swedish både, båda, Danish både, Norwegian både, Icelandic báðir. Replaced Middle English bō, from Old English bā, a form of Old English bēġen. A remnant of the Indo-European dual grammatical number.

Words from the same roots