beer English · revision 3809

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1000|origins=la bibere}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /bɪə/, US /bɪr/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|ber]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(Barnhart 1988) [[inh|ang|bēor|t=strong drink, beer, mead]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) a West Germanic word, cognate with Old Frisian biar, Middle Dutch and Dutch bier, Old High German bior and German Bier.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(NODE 1998) Its origin is much disputed.^(Etymonline) It is probably an early (6th-century) monastic borrowing [[der|la-vul|biber|t=a drink]],^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998)^(Cresswell 2021) from [[m|la|bibere|t=to drink]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from [[ine-pro|*po(i)-|t=to drink]];^(Etymonline) Barnhart finds the connection with bibere phonologically difficult,^(Barnhart 1988) and another suggestion derives it from [[gem-pro|*beuwoz-]], from *beuwo- “barley”.^(Etymonline) Old Norse björr is from West Germanic, and the native Scandinavian word, Old Norse ǫl, is cognate with English [[ale]].^(Barnhart 1988) It is related to [[beverage]] and [[imbibe]].^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An alcoholic drink made by fermenting malt: about 1000 in the OED.^(OED 1989) Old English bēor appears in Beowulf, and the Middle English form ber about 1225, in King Horn.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word is found in Old English but was rare outside poetry, and it seems to have become common only in the 16th century, as the name of a hopped malt liquor;^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) it was probably reinforced from Low German when hopped drink was introduced.^(Hoad 1986) Ale, the usual earlier word, came to mean a drink made without hops, and a late 16th-century proverb runs “Turkey, heresy, hops, and beer came into England all in one year”.^(Cresswell 2021) From about 1100 it was also applied to fermented drinks flavoured with other things, as ''ginger beer'' and ''root beer''.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate) ''Small beer'', weak beer and figuratively a trifling matter, is recorded from 1532.^(OED 1989) In regional English dialect, beer was strong malt liquor, better than ale.^(Wright 1898) The colloquial verb “to drink beer” is from 1780–6.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 725 – Old English bēor in Beowulf.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1000 – fermented malt liquor.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1225 – Middle English ber in King Horn.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1532 – ''small beer''.^(OED 1989)

+ * 16th century – common as the name of hopped liquor.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1780–6 – verb, to drink beer.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An alcoholic drink brewed from [[malt]] and flavoured with [[hop|alt=hops]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A carbonated soft drink flavoured with roots or other plant parts: ''root beer'', ''ginger beer''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Fermented [[mash]].^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A glass or bottle of beer.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[beery]]

+ * [[beerhouse]]

+ * [[beer and skittles]]

+ * [[beer belly]]

+ * [[beer garden]]

+ * [[beer hall]]

+ * [[bock beer]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ale]]

+ * [[beverage]]

+ * [[imbibe]]

+ * [[bib]]

+ * [[bibulous]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Two rare words share the spelling: a weaving term for a set number of threads in a warp (1712), an alteration of [[bier]],^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024) and “one who is or exists”, from [[be]] and [[-er]] (1382).^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}