bec

Forms

bec m (plural becs)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin beccus (“beak of a bird”),^[2][3][4][5] a word recorded only from Suetonius, who gives it as the Gaulish nickname “Becco” of a man born in Toulouse, explaining that it meant a cock's beak.^[2][6][5] The GLLF and Wiktionary take it from Gaulish *beccos;^[7][1] the Grand Robert calls a Gaulish origin only possible, and Rey connects it, perhaps, with a Celtic stem ⟨bacc-⟩ “hook” with a change of vowel.^[3][2] In Gallo-Romance it replaced classical rostrum.^[5][2]

Cognate with Italian becco, Occitan bec, Catalan bec and Portuguese bico, and with Breton beg.^[8][9][6] English beak was borrowed from the French word in the 13th century.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1119, for the horny beak of a bird.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

By the middle of the 12th century it also named a pointed object shaped like a bird's beak (about 1150), later a point of land (1345), the prow of a ship and many compounds such as bec-de-cane and bec-de-lièvre.^[2][5][6] By extension it meant the human mouth (1217), whence the figurative “face” and “person”, and phrases about food and talk such as prise de bec “a quarrel”.^[2] Around 1393 it was also used of a fish's mouth.^[2]

The figurative avoir le bec dans l'eau comes from an older tenir le bec dans l'eau à quelqu'un “to keep someone waiting in vain” (late 16th to early 17th century); avoir bec et ongles gave se défendre bec et ongles “to defend oneself tooth and nail”.^[2][7] From 1821 bec named the burner of a gas lamp, as in bec Bunsen.^[2]

In Switzerland and Quebec bec is a familiar word for a kiss (donner un bec, 1867); in Switzerland it was first noted in 1864 in the dialect form bet, a deverbal of a regional becquer “to kiss”.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1119 – First record, for a bird's beak.^[2][3]
• c. 1150 – Used of a pointed object shaped like a beak.^[2]
• 1217 – Used for the human mouth.^[2]
• 13th century – The Roman de la Rose has bec jaune, the source of béjaune.^[5]
• 1345 – Used for a point of land.^[2]
• 1821 – Used for the burner of a gas lamp.^[2]
• 1867 – Donner un bec “to give a kiss” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The beak or bill of a bird.^[8][1]
2. The beak-like mouth of some other animals, such as turtles or squid.^[8]
3. (familiar) A person's mouth.^[8][1]
4. A pointed part shaped like a beak, such as the spout of a jug or a point of land.^[2][8]
5. (music) The mouthpiece of a wind instrument such as a clarinet or recorder.^[1][10]
6. A gas burner: bec Bunsen.^[2][1]
7. (Quebec, Switzerland, Belgium, familiar) A kiss.^[2][1]

Word family

• bec-de-cane
• béquille
• bécasse
• bécot
• becquée
• béquet
• béqueter
• béjaune
• becquer
• becqueter
• bédane

Related words

• Latin beccus
• English beak

Usage notes

Se retrouver le bec dans l'eau is to end up with nothing, having gained nothing from a situation.^[8] In Switzerland gros becs! and bons becs! close a letter much as gros bisous! does in France.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 304b
5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF