At 11:23:53 AM on Tuesday, July 21, 2009, Fred Logue wrote:

> Is it not related to the German word: beide: both?

No. It's cognate with Old High German <beiten> 'to urge,
demand, force', which survives in Swiss German <beiten> 'to
force'. It's also related to German <bitten> 'to request'.
The ON cognate of German <beide> is <bæði> 'both'.

Brian