biðja

From Old Norse biðja, from Proto-Germanic *bidjaną. Cognate with German bitten, Icelandic biðja, Danish bede, Swedish bedja, English bede, bead.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpiːja/

  Rhymes: -iːja

biðja (third person singular past indicative bað, third person plural past indicative bóðu, supine biðið)

1. to ask, to request, to beg
2. to wish (e.g. góðan dag - good day)
3. to pray to God (Gud)

   biðja Faðir vár ― say the Lord's prayer

From Old Norse biðja, from Proto-Germanic *bidjaną. Cognate with German bitten, Faroese biðja, Danish bede, Swedish bedja, English bid.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɪðja/

  Rhymes: -ɪðja

biðja (strong verb, third-person singular past indicative bað, third-person plural past indicative báðu, supine beðið)

1. to ask, to request

   Synonym: beiðast

   Ég bað þig nú bara um greiða.

   I just asked you a favor.

2. (intransitive) to pray

   Ég bið til Guðs.

   I pray to God.

Runic

• ᛒᛁᚦᛁᛅ (biþia) — infinitive
• ᛒᛅᚦ (baþ) — first/third singular past indicative

From Proto-Germanic *bidjaną (“to ask for, request”). Cognate with Old English biddan, Old Frisian bidda, Old Saxon biddian, Old High German bitten, Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (bidjan). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰedʰ- (“to request, pray, ask for”).

• (12th century Icelandic) IPA^(key): /ˈbiðjɑ/

biðja (singular past indicative bað, plural past indicative báðu, past participle beðinn)

1. to ask, beg, request
   • Vǫluspá, verse 1, lines 1-2, in 1860, T. Möbius, Edda Sæmundar hins fróða: mit einem Anhang zum Theil bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig, page 1:

     Hljóðs bið ek allar / helgar kindir,

     For silence I ask / all holy kindreds

2. to pray
   • Saga Ólafs konúngs Tryggvasonar 279, in 1827, S. Egilsson, Þ. Guðmundsson, Fornmanna sögur, Volume III. Copenhagen, page 48:

     hann vakti laungum um nóttum ok bað til guðs góðgjarnliga fur vinum.

     many times he rose in the night and prayed to the merciful God for friends.

• beðinn (“asked, requested”)
• biðja konu (“to ask in marriage”)
• biðjask fyrir (“to say one's prayers”)
• biðjask undan (“to excuse oneself”)

• Icelandic: biðja
• Faroese: biðja
• Norwegian Nynorsk: bidja, beda, be
• Old Swedish: biþia, bedhia
  • Swedish: bedja, be
• Danish: bede
  • Norwegian Bokmål: bede, be

• biðja in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, R. Cleasby and G. Vigfússon, Clarendon Press, 1874, at Internet Archive.
• biðja in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, G. T. Zoëga, Clarendon Press, 1910, at Internet Archive.