beta Latin · revision 9346
16 Oct 2026, 18:25 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
Initial text
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+ {{homograph|1|beet}}
+
+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=Plautus}}
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''bēta''' ''f'' (genitive bētae); first declension^(Wiktionary)
+ Serenus Sammonicus has ''bētis''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ The origin of the beet is doubtful.^(OLD 2012) Köbler, after the German etymological dictionaries, thinks it probably a Celtic loan.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Köbler's earliest source is Plautus, whom he dates c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It was the beet, ''Beta vulgaris'', as in Cicero and Pliny the Elder.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+
+ British Medieval Latin used it for beet or orache, glossed Old English ''bēte''.^(DMLBS) It was borrowed early into Old English ''bēte'', the source of [[en|beet]], and into Old High German ''bieza''.^(Köbler 2010)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It survives in French ''bette'', Italian ''bietola'' and Catalan ''bleda''.^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero mentions it.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes it.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # [[m|en|beet|alt=Beet]].^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[bētāceus]]
+
+ {{homograph|2|letter beta}}
+
+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Juvenal|origins=phn 𐤁𐤕}}
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''bēta''' ''n'' (indeclinable)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ The letter is [[bor|grc|βῆτα|tr=bêta]], from [[phn|𐤁𐤕|tr=bēt|t=house]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Köbler's earliest source is Juvenal, whom he dates c. 67–c. 127 AD, and the OLD and Lewis & Short cite his ''ante alpha et bēta''.^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It was the second letter of the Greek alphabet, indeclinable, though Ausonius treats it as a first-declension noun.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) [[en|beta]] is recorded about 1300, used for the second of many things.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it.^(Köbler 2010)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ * c. 1300 – English ''beta'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # [[m|en|beta|alt=Beta]], the second letter of the Greek alphabet.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[alpha]]
+ * [[en|beet]]
+ * [[en|beta]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}