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been based anew on Lat. bêta, or have been taken from the LG. bete, thus displacing the older bieȥe, which is still found in Bav. From Lat. and Rom. bêta (Ital. bieta, F. bette), AS. bête (whence E. beet) is also derived. In another group of words borrowed from Lat., Lat. ê became î (comp. Feier, from fêriae); hence the dial. beisse (ei from MidHG. î) also appears occasionally for beete, bieȥe. befehlen, vb., ‘to order, command, commend,’ MidHG. bevëlhen, bevëlen, ‘to hand over, entrust, deliver, command’; OHG. bifëlhan, bifëlahan, ‘to hand over’ (also ‘to hide, bury, entrust, recommend’). The chief meaning of the Goth. str. vb. filhan in compounds with the particles ga-, us-, is also ‘to bury’; anafilhan approximates the ModHG., ‘to command, enjoin’; it means ‘to give, hand over, commend, recommend.’ AS. befeólan (for befeolhan), ‘to entrust, make over, devote oneself.’ Hence the primary meaning of the primit. Teut. str. vb. bifelhan is ‘to entrust, hand over, hide.’ The Teut. root felh- is based upon pre-Teut. pelk; it is a mistake, therefore, to connect the word on account of its earlier meaning, ‘to bury,’ with Lat. sepelire. Beffchen, n., ‘a clergyman’s bands,’ diminut. of beffe (LG.), ‘amess, cap worn by officials in Rom. Cath. churches,’ the origin of which is obscure. In MidHG. both words are wanting; the latter is found even in MidLG. begehren, vb., ‘to desire, crave, request, from the equiv. MidHG. begërn, chiefly in the simple form gërn, OHG. gërôn; the r probably belongs to the stem, because gern as a no-partic. points in that direction; comp. gern, Gier. beginnen, vb. ‘to begin,’ from the equiv. MidHG. beginnen, OHG. beginnan; it corresponds to Goth duginnan, AS. â-, be-, on-ginnan, E. to begin, OLG. biginnan, with a similar meaning. This verbal stem, which appears at an early period only in a compound form, is based upon a pre-Teut. to-, bhi-kenwô, with permutation of k to Teut. g. For the Aryan root ken comp. OBulg. po-čĭną (infin. po-čęti), ‘to begin,’ konĭ, ‘beginning.’ behagen, vb. (to which behaglich is allied), ‘to be comfortable,’ from the equiv. MidHG. behagen; OSax. bilagôn, AS. onhagian, ‘to suit, please,’ OIc. haga, ‘to arrange.’ OG. has only a str. participle, OHG. |
bihagan, MidHG. behagen, ‘fresh, joyous, comfortable’ (hence ModHG. das Behagen, Unbehagen); the old str. vb. no longer exists in Teut. Probably the Ind. root çak is primitively related to it — çaknômi, ‘am strong, able, helpful, beneficial,’ çakrá-s, ‘strong’; comp. further Hag, Hecke, and hegen, which with the same phonetic form approximate the earlier meaning ‘to help, protect.’
behaupten, vb., ‘to maintain, assert,’ not from MidHG. behaupten, which means ‘to behead.’ This word, which first occurs in ModHG., is rather derived with a change of meaning from MidHG. behaben, ‘to hold fast, keep, maintain.’ behende, adj., ‘nimble, agile, active,’ from MidHG. behęnde, adv., ‘suitably, conveniently, skilfully, quickly’; in OHG. we should have expected bi hęnti (dat.), for which zi hęnti, ‘at once,’ occurs. The prep. is compounded with the dat. of the subst. hant, OHG. hęnti; comp. the similar origin of abhanden under ab. Behörde, f., ‘the authorities,’ first recorded in ModHG. from hören, MidHG. zuo behœren, ‘to belong to, be one's due.’ Behuf, m., ‘behalf, advantage,’ from MidHG. behuof, m., ‘business, purpose, means to an end’; root haf (in heben), as also in E. behoof, AS. behôf. bei, prep. and adv., ‘by, near, about’; the accented form of the unaccented prefix be; the Goth used in both cases bĭ; the Englishman makes a distinction like the German; AS. bî, E. by, but be as a prefix. OHG. bî and bi- (comp. also Beichte, Beispiel). In Goth. bĭ means ‘around, near’; hence its kinship with Gr. ἀμφί, Lat. ambi- is probable; the loss of the first syllable am- also occurs in the OTeut. word for beide; the base is probably ambhi-; comp. also um. Beichte, f., ‘confession,’ from the equiv. MidHG. bîht, contracted from MidHG. and OHG. bíjiht, bígiht; a regular verbal noun from MidHG. bejëhen, OHG. bi-jëhan, ‘to confess, acknowledge.’ The simple form jëhan, usually signifying ‘to say, speak out,’ also means occasionally ‘to avow, confess’; hence OFr. gehir. This verb jëhan may possibly be connected with ja, which see. beide, num., ‘both,’ from the equiv. MidHG. beide, béde, m., f., (beidiu, n.); OHG. beide, béde (beido, f., beidiu, n.); OHG. and MidHG. have also a remarkable variant with ê (OHG. and MidHG. bêde), although ei in other instances in HG. is not |
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