ben English · revision 3955

+ English has two words spelled ''ben'': the Scots “within”, from Old English, and the mountain peak, from Gaelic.^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ben/^(Roach et al. 2011)

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+ {{homograph|1|within}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1375|origins=ang binnan}}

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|ben]], binnen,^(MWU 2024) [[inh|ang|binnan|t=within, from within]],^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) from [[m|ang|be-]] and [[m|ang|innan|t=within]], from [[in]].^(MWU 2024) The SOED compares Old Frisian binna and Dutch binnen.^(SOED 2002)

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+ ==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^(OED 1989) and the adverb about 1425.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is Scots and northern.^(SOED 2002)^(MW Collegiate) The preposition, “into the inner part of a house”, is from 1684,^(OED 1989) the adjective, as in ''ben room'', from 1774,^(OED 1989) and the noun, “the inner room” or parlour of a two-roomed cottage, from 1766 in Merriam-Webster^(MWU 2024) and 1791–9 in the OED.^(OED 1989) ''But and ben'' meant “in the outer and inner rooms”, and so a two-roomed cottage.^(OED 1989)^(Wright 1898) In dialect from Scotland to Lancashire, ''to go ben'' was to go into the parlour.^(Wright 1898)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1375 – ''but and ben''.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1425 – adverb, within.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1684 – preposition.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1766 – noun, the inner room.^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1774 – adjective, inner.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # ''(Scotland)'' Inside; within.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

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+ ===Preposition===

+ # ''(Scotland)'' Within.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

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+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(Scotland)'' The inner room or [[parlour]] of a two-roomed house.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

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+ {{homograph|2|mountain}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1788|origins=gd beinn}}

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+ ==Etymology==

+ The mountain is [[bor|gd|beinn|t=peak, summit, mountain]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from Old Irish benn “peak, horn”,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) from [[ine-pro|*bend-|t=projecting point]].^(Etymonline) It is related to Welsh ban “peak”^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) and, according to Merriam-Webster, to [[pin]].^(MWU 2024)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A mountain peak, in the names of Scottish mountains such as Ben Nevis: 1788.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is used especially of roughly pyramidal peaks standing alone,^(Etymonline) chiefly in names in Scotland and Ireland, such as Ben Bulben.^(SOED 2002) In Roxburghshire and Irish dialect it was a hill or mountain.^(Wright 1898)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1788 – a mountain peak.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

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+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A mountain peak in Scotland or Ireland, chiefly in names: ''Ben Nevis''.^(SOED 2002)^(MW Collegiate)

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[in]]

+ * [[within]]

+ * [[pin]]

+ * [[be]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Ben is also the seed of the horseradish tree (1559), from Arabic bān,^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024) which yields ''oil of ben'' (1594).^(OED 1989) In Middle English ben was a form of [[be]].^(OED 1989)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}