beccus

Latin

Etymology

Possibly borrowed from Gaulish *bekkos, from Proto-Celtic *bekkos (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *bak-, *baḱ- (“pointed stick, peg”). If so, then cognate with Middle English pegge (“peg”). More at peg.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈbek.kus/, [ˈbɛkːʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈbek.kus/, [ˈbɛkːus]

Noun

beccus m (genitive beccī); second declension

1. beak, bill (especially of a cock)

Usage notes

The most usual word for "beak" is rostrum.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	beccus	beccī
Genitive	beccī	beccōrum
Dative	beccō	beccīs
Accusative	beccum	beccōs
Ablative	beccō	beccīs
Vocative	becce	beccī

Descendants

• Old French: bec
  • French: bec
  • Walloon: betch
  • → Dutch: bek
  • → English: beak
• → Esperanto: beko
• Friulian: bec
• Italian: becco
• Old Galician-Portuguese: bico
  • Galician: bico
  • Portuguese: bico
• Old Occitan: bec
  • Catalan: bec
  • Occitan: bèc
• Romansch: bec
• Spanish: pico

References

• “beccus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• beccus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• beccus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.