bés

French

Noun

bés m

1. plural of bé

---

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• béss, bǽs

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʲeːs/

Etymology 1

(deprecated template usage)

From Proto-Celtic *banssus, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ-.

Noun

bés m (genitive béso)

1. custom
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 4^d15

     In Belzefuth: is béss didu ind lïacc benir il-béim friss, et intí do·thuit foir ɔ·boing a chnámi, intí fora tuit-som immurgu at·bail-side.

     The Beelzebub: it is the custom, then, of the stone that many blows are hit against it, and he who falls upon it breaks his bones; however, he whom it falls on perishes

   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 22^c10

     Is bés trá dosom aní-siu cosc inna mban i tossug et a tabairt fo chumacte a feir, armbat irlamu de ind ḟir fo chumacte Dǽi, co·mbí íarum coscitir ind ḟir et do·airbertar fo réir Dǽ.

     This, then, is a custom of his, to correct the wives at first and to bring them under the power of their husbands, so that the husbands may be the readier under God’s power, so that afterwards the husbands are corrected and bowed down in subjection to God.

Declension

Masculine u-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	bés	bésL	bésaeH, bésse
Vocative	bés	bésL	bésu
Accusative	bésN	bésL	bésu
Genitive	bésoH, béessoH	bésoL, béessoL	bésaeN
Dative	bésL	bésaib, béssaib	bésaib, béssaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Irish: béas
• Scottish Gaelic: beus

Etymology 2

Adverb

bés (precedes the verb, which is in the subjunctive)

1. perhaps

Derived terms

• bésu, béso (combined with the present subjunctive of the copula)

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
bés	bés pronounced with /β(ʲ)-/	mbés
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 bés ‘custom’”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “2 bés ‘perhaps’”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language