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ben

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

Pronunciation

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.

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