bés

See also: Appendix:Variations of "bes"

French

Pronunciation

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Noun

bés m

1. plural of bé

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʲeːs/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *banssus, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ-. According to another theory, the word might derive from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeydʰ- instead, making it cognate with Albanian besë as an Albanian/Celtic isogloss.

Noun

bés m (genitive béso)

1. custom
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 4^d15

     In Belzefuth: is béss didu ind lïacc benir il-béim friss, et intí do·thuit foir ɔ·boing a chnámi, intí fora tuit-som immurgu at·bail-side.

     The Beelzebub: it is the custom, then, of the stone that many blows are hit against it, and he who falls upon it breaks his bones; however, he whom it falls on perishes

2. manner (customary method of acting; habit)
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 9^a14

     Bed adthramli .i. gaibid comarbus for n-athar et intamlid a béssu.

     Be pl fatherlike, i.e. take your father’s heritage and imitate his manners

For more quotations using this term, see Citations:bés.

Declension

Masculine u-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	bés	bésL	bésaeH, bésse
Vocative	bés	bésL	bésu, béssu
Accusative	bésN	bésL	bésu, béssu
Genitive	bésoH, béessoH	bésoL, béessoL	bésaeN
Dative	bésL	bésaib, béssaib	bésaib, béssaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Alternative forms

• béss, bǽs

Descendants

• Irish: béas
• Scottish Gaelic: beus

Etymology 2

Adverb

bés (precedes the verb, which is in the subjunctive)

1. perhaps
   • c. 850, Carlsruhe Glosses on St Augustine’s Soliloquia, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. 2, pp. 1–9, Acr. 14^a2

     Bés as·bera-su as n‑ai⟨n⟩m dosom animus ci at·bela.

     Maybe you would say that animus is its name though it may die.

Derived terms

• bésu, béso (combined with the present subjunctive of the copula)

Mutation

Mutation of bés

radical	lenition	nasalization
bés	bés pronounced with /β(ʲ)-/	mbés

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 bés ‘custom’”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “2 bés ‘perhaps’”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Wolof

Etymology

Cognate with Laalaa bées.

Noun

bés (definite form bés bi)

1. day