† bitwih, prep. Obs.
[OE. Anglian bi-, betw{iacu}h, Saxon betwĭh, -tweoh, -twuh, -tuh, -twioh, -twyh, f. bi-, be prep. + tw{iacu}h, etc., prob. shortened from the old accusative form *twîhn (twihn, tweohn; twîhen, twîhon) mentioned as one of the sources of between. The original construction of tw{iacu}h is seen in the phrase mid unc tw{iacu}h ‘amid us twain,’ i.e. ‘between us’; from a parallel bi (unc) tw{iacu}h, bi tw{iacu}h, came the combined betwih. In bitwuht, the -t must have been added on the analogy of betwixt. Only in OE.; superseded in ME. by the expanded form bitwihen.]
= betwixt, between.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxix. §13 Sio sunne and se mona habbaþ todæled butwuht him þone dæᵹ and þa niht. c 893 ― Oros. i. iii. §1 Betuh Arabia and Palestina. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke x. 3 Ic sendo iuih sua lombro bituih [Rushw. bitwih] ulfum. a 1000 Boeth. Metr. xxviii. 104 Betweoh him. |