ben

English has two words spelled ben: the Scots “within”, from Old English, and the mountain peak, from Gaelic.^[1][2]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ben/^[3]

ben¹ within

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ben, binnen,^[1] inherited from Old English binnan (“within, from within”),^[1][2] from be- and innan (“within”), from in.^[1] The SOED compares Old Frisian binna and Dutch binnen.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Within, towards the inner part, especially in or into the inner room: the OED has the phrase but and ben about 1375^[4] and the adverb about 1425.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is Scots and northern.^[2][5] The preposition, “into the inner part of a house”, is from 1684,^[4] the adjective, as in ben room, from 1774,^[4] and the noun, “the inner room” or parlour of a two-roomed cottage, from 1766 in Merriam-Webster^[1] and 1791–9 in the OED.^[4] But and ben meant “in the outer and inner rooms”, and so a two-roomed cottage.^[4][6] In dialect from Scotland to Lancashire, to go ben was to go into the parlour.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1375 – but and ben.^[4]
• c. 1425 – adverb, within.^[4]
• 1684 – preposition.^[4]
• 1766 – noun, the inner room.^[1]
• 1774 – adjective, inner.^[4]

Modern meaning

Adverb

1. (Scotland) Inside; within.

Preposition

1. (Scotland) Within.

Noun

1. (Scotland) The inner room or parlour of a two-roomed house.

ben² mountain

Etymology

The mountain is borrowed from Scottish Gaelic beinn (“peak, summit, mountain”),^[7][1] from Old Irish benn “peak, horn”,^[7][1][2] from Proto-Indo-European *bend- (“projecting point”).^[7] It is related to Welsh ban “peak”^[1][2] and, according to Merriam-Webster, to pin.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A mountain peak, in the names of Scottish mountains such as Ben Nevis: 1788.^[7][4][1]

Semantic evolution

It is used especially of roughly pyramidal peaks standing alone,^[7] chiefly in names in Scotland and Ireland, such as Ben Bulben.^[2] In Roxburghshire and Irish dialect it was a hill or mountain.^[6]

Timeline

• 1788 – a mountain peak.^[7][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A mountain peak in Scotland or Ireland, chiefly in names: Ben Nevis.

Related words

• in
• within
• pin
• be

Usage notes

Ben is also the seed of the horseradish tree (1559), from Arabic bān,^[4][2][1] which yields oil of ben (1594).^[4] In Middle English ben was a form of be.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com