Etymograph

English

bead

Bead comes from Middle English bede ‘a prayer’ (from counting prayers on beads), from Old English ġebed ‘prayer’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bedą ‘prayer, entreaty’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bedą‘prayer, entreaty’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bed‘prayer’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanic, derivedc. 200–500 CE*gabed‘prayer’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150ġebed‘prayer’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bede‘a prayer’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1760bead

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bedą‘prayer, entreaty’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bed‘prayer’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanic, derivedc. 200–500 CE*gabed‘prayer’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150ġebed‘prayer’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bede‘a prayer’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1760bead

Earliest quotation: 1760, Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy: “That he must believe in the Pope;—go to Mass;—cross…”

The story

From Middle English bede (‘a prayer’), also “a bead for counting prayers” in a peire of bedes (literally “a pair of beads”), from Old English bedu, bed, ġebed (‘a request, entreaty, prayer’), from Proto-West Germanic *bedu, *bed, *gabed, from Proto-Germanic *bedō, *bedą.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰedʰ- ‘to ask for, beseech’

bad, bid

through Middle English bede ‘a prayer’

bede

Today it means

noun Prayer, later especially with a rosary.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *bedą / bead

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