βῆτα

Forms

βῆτᾰ (bêta) n (indeclinable)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Phoenician 𐤁𐤕 (bt), the West Semitic name of the second letter of the alphabet.^[1][2][3] Rosół compares Biblical Hebrew בֵּית (bêṯ), written βηθ (bēth) in Greek transcription, Classical Syriac ܒܝܬ (bēt) and Arabic بَاء (bāʾ), while LSJ and Chantraine cite Aramaic ביתא (bēthā).^[2][4][5] The name was originally the noun for ‘house’, as in Akkadian 𒂍 (bītu, “house”).^[2][6]

The final -α was added on the model of the other letter names, ἄλφα (álpha), γάμμα (gámma), δέλτα (délta) and λάμβδα (lámbda).^[2] Chantraine explains it as an ending taken from interjections such as σίττα (sítta), given to Semitic names whose final sound Greek could not have.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Attic of the late 5th and 4th centuries BC, in the comic poets Callias and Aristophanes and in Plato, as the name of the letter β.^[2][3][7] Plato's Theaetetus calls it a consonant that has neither voice nor noise of its own.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The grammarians and philosophers used it as a letter and an element of syllables (Aristotle's Metaphysics), and as a numeral it stood for two or second.^[8][4] It was pronounced [bɛ̂ːta] in Classical Attic, and [vita] after the Hellenistic period.^[9][1]

Latin borrowed the name as Latin beta,^[10] and English has used beta since about 1300, later for the second of a series; English alphabet goes back through Late Latin alphabetum to the Greek names of the first two letters.^[11] Medieval vernacular Greek made it feminine.^[12] Modern Greek βήτα (víta) is a learned form of the ancient name, again neuter and indeclinable.^[9][6]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes and Plato use it for the letter β.^[3][8][7]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle's Metaphysics treats the letters alpha and beta as elements of syllables.^[8][4]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus uses the letter name in his poetry.^[8][3]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it.^[4]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek uses it as a feminine noun.^[12]
• About 1300 – English borrows beta.^[11]
• Modern Greek – The learned βήτα (víta) names the second letter of the alphabet.^[9][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Beta, the second letter of the Greek alphabet (Β, β).^[4][3][8]
2. As a numeral, two or second.^[8]

Related words

• ἄλφα (álpha)
• Latin beta
• English beta
• English alphabet

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
3. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
6. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
9. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr