Etymology
1. O.E.
besettan, "to surround," from P.Gmc.
*bisatjan (cf. O.S.
bisettjan, Ger.
besetzen, Goth.
bisatjan); see
be- + set (v.). The fig. sense also was in O.E.
2. From Middle English besetten, bisetten (“to besiege, blockade; to fill, occupy; to harass, beset; to allot, bestow; to arrange, manage; to place, set; to provide for; to treat in a certain way”), from Old English besettan, bisettan (“to surround, beset; to set near; etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *bisattjan, from Proto-Germanic *bisatjaną (“to fill, occupy”), from *bi- (prefix meaning ‘at; by’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi (“at; near; on”)) + *satjaną (“to place down, set”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”)). By surface analysis, be- (prefix meaning ‘around; by, close to, near, next to’) + set.
3. cognates
4. * Danish besætte (“to occupy; obsess”)
5. * Dutch bezetten (“to sit in; occupy; fill”)
6. * German besetzen (“to seize; occupy; garrison”)
7. * German Low German besetten (“to occupy”)
8. * Saterland Frisian besätte (“to occupy”)
9. * Swedish besätta (“to fill; occupy; beset”)
10. * West Frisian besette (“to occupy”) See: Old English '
besettan', Proto-Germanic '
*bisatjaną', Danish '
besætte', Dutch '
bezetten', German, old spelling '
besetzen', Frisian, Saterlandic 'besätte', Swedish '
besätta'.
Verbs referencing "beset"
German, old spelling
besetzen.