Etymology
1. O.E.
beatan "inflict blows on, thrash" (class VII strong verb; past tense
beot, pp.
beaten), from P.Gmc.
*bautan (cf. O.N.
bauta, O.H.G.
bozan), from PIE base
*bhau- "to strike" (see batter (v.)). Of the heart, c.1200, from notion of it striking against the breast. Meaning "to overcome in a contest" is from 1611. Meaning "strike cover to rouse or drive game" (M.E.) is source of
beat around the bush (1572), the metaphoric sense of which has shifted from "make preliminary motions" to "avoid, evade." Command
beat it "go away" first recorded 1906 (though "action of feet upon the ground" was a sense of O.E.
betan).
Dead-beat (originally "tired-out") preserves the old pp. To
beat (someone) up is c.1900. To
beat off "masturbate" is recorded by 1960s. For
beat generation, see beatnik.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-der.?
4. Proto-Germanic *bautaną
5. Proto-West Germanic *bautan
6. Old English bēatan
7. Middle English beten
8. English beat
9. Inherited from Middle English beten, from Old English bēatan (“to beat, pound, strike, lash, dash, thrust, hurt, injure”), from Proto-West Germanic *bautan, from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to push, strike”).
10. Cognates
11. Cognate with Dutch boten, botten, butten (“to push, strike”), German boßen (“to thrash”), Gothic *𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍄𐌰𐌽 (*bautan, “to beat, strike”) (whence, probably, Galician and Portuguese botar (“to expel; to throw”)); also Latin fūstis (“club, cudgel, knobbed stick, staff”), *fūtō (“to strike”), Albanian bahe, hobe (“sling”), Armenian բութ (butʻ), բույթ (buytʻ, “thumb”). See: Middle English '
beten', Middle English '
beten', Proto-Germanic '
*bautaną', Dutch '
boten', German, old spelling '
boßen'.
Verbs referencing "beat"
Latin
refuto, German, old spelling
boßen, German, old spelling
boßeln, German, old spelling
bosseln, Bulgarian
буцам.