befall

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bifallen,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English befeallan (“to fall; to fall to; to deprive of”),^[5][6][2][7] formed from Old English be- (“by, about”) + feallan (“to fall”).^[5][6][3][4] Fall goes back to Proto-Germanic *fallaną (“to fall”),^[8][9] and Wiktionary reconstructs the prefixed verb as *bifallaną.^[1] Its cognates are Old Saxon bifallan, Old High German bifallan, Old Frisian bifalla,^[6][3][10] German befallen^[6][3] and Dutch bevallen.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To fall, chiefly figuratively: Barnhart places the first record about 875, probably in a version of Genesis,^[3] and the OED cites King Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care.^[6] That text says hie oft befeallaþ on micel yfel, they often fall into great evil.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Old English used the verb literally and figuratively of falling, of something falling to a person and of being deprived, with the past participle befeallen meaning "bereft".^[7][12][5] The sense "to fall to as a share or right" continued from about 1175,^[6][13] while "to fall out, to happen" developed at the same time, first with it or with no stated subject, then with to, unto or upon about 1225.^[6][3] Etymonline dates the intransitive sense "to come to pass" to about 1300,^[5] the OED's date for the use without an object being before 1300.^[6] With the person as indirect object, the most frequent modern use, it is found from 1297, in Robert of Gloucester.^[6] In the phrases fair befall and foul befall it wished good or ill on someone, from 1377 to 1598.^[6] Chaucer used it 78 times and Gower 205 times, glossed as to befall, happen or occur.^[14] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to happen to: used generally of ill", which is close to the modern use.^[15] Collins now labels the verb archaic or literary.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 875 – befeallan, to fall, chiefly figuratively (obsolete by 1647).^[3][6]
• c. 1175 – to fall to someone as a share or right; also impersonal, it happens.^[6]
• c. 1225 – to happen, with to, unto or upon; bifallen.^[6][3]
• 1297 – to happen to someone, with an indirect object.^[6]
• before 1300 – to happen, to come to pass, with no object.^[6]
• 1377 – fair befall, foul befall (obsolete by 1598).^[6]
• 1470–85 – to become of, in Malory (obsolete by 1616).^[6]
• before 1492 – noun, a case or incident, in Caxton.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To happen to someone, especially of something bad: A worse fate befell the second expedition.^[11][4][10]
2. (archaic or literary) To take place; to come to pass: It so befell that the ferry was late that morning.^[11][4][10]
3. (archaic) To fall to someone as a due or right; to pertain.^[11][4][6]
4. (obsolete, 1470–1616) To become of, used with of.^[4][6]
5. (obsolete, Old English–1647) To fall, chiefly figuratively.^[6][10]

Related words

• fall

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
13. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.