Etymology
1. O.E.
bed "bed," from P.Gmc.
*badjam "sleeping place dug in the ground" (cf. M.Du.
bedde, O.H.G.
betti, Ger.
bett, Goth.
badi), from PIE base
*bhedh- "to dig, pierce," cf. Hittite
beda- "to pierce, prick," Gk.
bothyros "pit," L.
fossa "ditch," Lith.
bedre "to dig," Bret.
bez "grave." Both "sleeping" and "gardening" senses are in O.E. Meaning "bottom of a lake, sea, watercourse" is from 1586. The verb meaning "to sleep with" is c.1315.
Bedridden is O.E.
bedreda, from
rida "rider," with
-en due to analogy of pp. adjectives.
Bedstead (1440) is strictly "the place occupied by a bed."
Bedroom (1616) replaced M.E.
bedchamber. First record of slang
bedroom eyes is 1940s.
Bed-bug is from 1809.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Germanic *badją
4. Proto-West Germanic *badi
5. Old English bedd
6. Middle English bed
7. English bed
8. Inherited from Middle English bed, bedde, from Old English bedd, from Proto-West Germanic *badi, from Proto-Germanic *badją (“resting-place, plot of ground”).
9. Cognates
10. Cognate with Scots bed, North Frisian baad, beed, Bēr, Saterland Frisian Bääd, West Frisian bêd, Cimbrian pett, Dutch bed, Dutch Low Saxon bedde, German Bett, Bette, German Low German Bedd, Luxembourgish Bett, Vilamovian bet, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål bed, Faroese and Icelandic beð, beður, Norwegian Nynorsk bed, bedd, Swedish bädd, Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌳𐌹 (badi), all meaning “bed”.
11. further possible etymology and cognates
12. The Proto-Germanic term may in turn be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to dig”) with various theories explaining the development in meaning. If it is, the term is also cognate with Ancient Greek βοθυρος (bothuros, “pit”), Latin fossa (“ditch”), Latvian bedre (“hole”), Welsh bedd (“grave”), Breton bez (“grave”); and probably also Russian бодать (bodatʹ, “to butt, gore”). See: Russian '
бодать'.