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Bes

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Bet

mezzana (the Rom. word, a deriv. of Lat. medius, is properly ‘middle-mast’).

beschälen, vb., ‘to cover (a mare),’ first occurs in ModHG.; a denominative from MidHG. schël, schële, m., ‘brood stallion.’ See Schellhengst.

bescheiden, vb., ‘to distribute, assign, summon,’ from MidHG. bescheiden, OHG. bisceidan, ‘to divide, decide, relate, report.’ The ModHG. and MidHG. partic. bescheiden, meant orig. ‘definite,’ then ‘clear, distinct, intelligible, prudent.’ See scheiden.

beschnäufeln, beschnüffeln, beschnuppern, vb., ‘to sniff at’; akin to the E. vbs. to snivel, snuff, snuffle, and schnaufen.

beschummeln, vb., ‘to deceive,’ from schummeln, ‘to worry.’

beschuppen, vb., ‘to scale, deceive,’ from LG.; the cognate words of the same group show that pf, not pp, is the strictly HG. form. It seems to belong to the stem of OIc. skopa, ‘to deride’; MidDu. scop, ‘derision.’ To the same stem belongs an OTeut. term for ‘poet,’ AS. scop, OHG. scopf, which, on account of its meaning, is important for the right conception of poetic composition among our ancestors.

Beschwerde, f., ‘difficulty, grievance, malady,’ from MidHG. beswœrde, f., ‘oppression, grief,’ allied to schwer.

beschwichtigen, vb., ‘to appease, compose.’ The Germans connect this word instinctively with schweigen; it forced its way, however, in the last half of the preceding cent. from LG. into the written language, and its cht is the earlier HG. ft; it corresponds to MidHG. swiften, ‘to pacify,’ OHG. swiftôn, ‘to be quiet.’ The stem is the same as in Goth. sweiban, ‘to cease, leave off’; with this the cognates of schweigen accord fairly well both in sound and meaning; the Teut. root swī̆b, swī̆g, is based upon the Aryan swī̆q (swī̆g in Gr. σϊγάω; see under schweigen).

Besen, m., ‘besom, broom,’ from the equiv. MidHG. bësen, bësem, bësme, OHG. bësamo; it corresponds to AS. besma, E. besom, Goth. *bisma, which have the same meaning; a pre-Teut. word of obscure origin; perhaps Beere and Bast are allied. Since the Eng. dialects point to an AS. bîsma, ‘besom,’ it is possible that the word is connected with Bieswind, and the Teut. root bī̆s, ‘to move in a restless, excited way.’

Besing, LG. word, a diminutive form, like the MidLG. equiv. beseke, n., ‘small

berry’; akin to Du. bes, Goth. basi. See under Beere.

besser, compar. adj., ‘better’; see the corresponding adv. baß; superl. best; from MidHG. beȥȥer, best (beȥȥist), OHG. beȥȥiro, beȥȥist; corresponds to AS. betera, betst, E. better, best; Goth. batiza, batists. Even in primit. Teut. gut formed its degrees of comparison in this way, which might be represented in Ind. by *bhadyas-, *bhadišṭha-. The etymology of ModHG. gut is difficult to get at; in the case of besser we are assisted by the cognate root in Buße, the primit. meaning of which is ‘utility’; the ethical notion arose from that of interest. At all events, thus the matter stands from the merely Teut. point of view. It has been connected more remotely with OInd. bhadrá-s, to which the primary meaning ‘shining’ is assigned; but in this sense the Ind. word cannot be cognate; it belongs to the root bhand, and would consequently become *buntrs in Goth. The chief significations of bhadrá-s, however, are ‘capable, salutary, prosperous,’ which are in closer approximation to the idea of interest. Of these meanings besser and best might form the degrees of comparison.

bestallt, partic. of bestellen, for which bestellt is now used.

bestatten, vb., ‘to convey, bury,’ from statt, Stätte.

besulbern, vb., ‘to cover with dirt,’ from MidHG. sülwen, sulwen, ‘to soil,’ also süln, OHG. sū̆llen, AS. sȳ̆lian, Goth. sauljan.

betäuben, vb., ‘to deafen, bewilder, confuse,’ lit. ‘to make deaf.’ See taub.

beten, vb., ‘to entreat, pray,’ from the equiv. MidHG. bëten, OHG. bëtôn; comp. Goth. bida, OHG. bëta, ‘request, prayer.’ Formed from the Teut. root bī̆d (Aryan bhidh), discussed under bitten.

Bett, n., ‘bed,’ from the equiv. MidHG. bet, bette, OHG. beti, betti, n.; com, AS. bedd, E. bed, Goth. badi. For ModHG. Bett the form Beth is found in the 18th cent. (e.g., in Gessner), just as for Beet this word Bett is used popularly (and in MidHG.); comp. Beet. The signification Beet (‘garden-bed’) makes the connection with the Lat. root in fodio, ‘to bury,’ possible (comp. W. bedd, ‘grave’; also OSlov. bodą, ‘I prick’); Goth. badi (Lat. *fŏdium), might therefore have arisen from Aryan bhodhiom. The primary meaning was probably ‘an excavated spot’; the significa-