beacon English · revision 39845

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Old English, Lindisfarne Gospels|origins=gem-pro *baukną}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈbiːkən/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|beken]],^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline)^(Dictionary.com 2016) [[inh|ang|bēacen|t=sign, portent, standard]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 2026)^(Hoad 1986) [[inh|gem-pro|*baukną|t=sign, signal]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Köbler Germ) Its cognates are [[ofs|bāken]], [[osx|bōkan]], [[dum|bōkin]] and [[goh|bouhhan]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)^(Hoad 1986) and [[non|bákn]], which Liberman thinks was borrowed from West Germanic.^(Liberman 2008) The OED notes that the word is not known outside Germanic,^(OED 2026) and Barnhart, Hoad and the Shorter Oxford call it of unknown origin.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002) Etymonline, following Watkins, and the American Heritage Dictionary derive it from the Indo-European root [[ine-pro|*bʰeh₂-|t=to shine]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024)^(Köbler Germ) and Merriam-Webster compares [[grc|φαίνω|tr=phaínō|t=to show]].^(MWU 2024) Liberman rejects such derivations: he takes [[gem-pro|*bauk-]] as a local Germanic word for swelling, formless objects, which took its suffix and its meaning "sign" from its synonym [[gem-pro|*taikną]], the source of [[token]].^(Liberman 2008) The verb [[beckon]] is formed from the noun.^(Ayto 2005)^(Hoad 1986)^(Partridge 1966)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A sign or portent: Old English, in the Lindisfarne Gospels;^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) and a military standard or banner, in ''Beowulf'' (about 725, according to Barnhart).^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) Liberman likewise gives "banner" and "portent" as the original meanings.^(Liberman 2008)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Ayto notes that the Old English word meant simply "sign", and did not develop its modern senses until the 14th century.^(Ayto 2005) The sense "signal fire" is recorded from 1338, as ''beken'',^(Barnhart 1988) and in Langland's ''Piers Plowman'' (1377), of a fire lit on a height as a warning of danger;^(OED 2026) a chain of such beacons could carry news across the country.^(OED 2026) From 1397 the word was used for a lighthouse or other mark guiding ships,^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024) from 1597 for a hill on which beacons were lit, a sense still found in the names of hills,^(OED 2026)^(Collins 2023) and a watchtower from 1611.^(OED 2026) The figurative sense, a person or thing that guides or warns, is recorded from about 1600, in Shakespeare's ''Troilus and Cressida''.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) Johnson (1755) defined it as something raised on a height to be fired on the approach of an enemy.^(Johnson 1755) In the 20th century the word was applied to lights guiding pilots to an aerodrome (1918) and to radio transmitters that let aircraft or ships fix their position (1919).^(OED 2026) In British slang a red nose has been called a ''beacon'' since about 1890.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Old English – a sign, a portent; a standard.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1338 – ''beken'', a signal fire.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1377 – a fire lit on a height as a warning.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1397 – a lighthouse or sea mark.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1597 – a hill on which beacons were lit.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1609 – figurative.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1644 – the verb, in Milton.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1918 – an aerodrome light.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1919 – a radio beacon.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A fire or light set on a high place as a [[signal]] or warning.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # A [[lighthouse]], [[buoy]] or other signal marking a hazard or guiding ships.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # A [[radio]] transmitter or light that guides aircraft or ships, or marks a position.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # A hill on which beacon fires were once lit; also in place names.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # A person or thing that guides, inspires or warns: ''The library became a beacon of learning for the town.''^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # (British) A [[Belisha beacon]].^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To shine like a beacon, or to light up as one does.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ # To guide or inspire.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ # To mark or provide with beacons.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[beaconless]]

+ * [[daybeacon]]

+ * [[radio beacon]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[beckon]]

+ * [[beck]]

+ * [[token]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}