be-prefix

The original meaning was ‘about.’ In prepositions and adverbs this is weakened into a general expression of position at or near, as in before (at, near, or towards the front), behind, below, beneath, benorth, besouth, between, beyond. With verbs, various senses of ‘about’ are often distinctly retained, as in be-bind, be-come (= come about), be-delve, be-gird, be-set, be-stir. In such as be-daub, be-spatter, be-stir, be-strew, the notion of ‘all about, all round, over,’ or ‘throughout,’ naturally intensifies the sense of the verb; whence, be- comes to be more or less a simple intensive, as in be-muddle, be-crowd, be-grudge, be-break, or specializes or renders figurative, as in befall (to fall as an accident), be-come, be-get, be-gin, be-have, be-hold, be-lieve. In other words the force of be- passes over to an object, and renders an intransitive verb transitive, as in be-speak (speak about, for, or to), be-flow (flow about), be-lie, be-moan, be-think, be-wail. Hence it is used to form transitive verbs on adjectives and substantives, as in dim be-dim, fool be-fool, madam be-madam; also others, in which the noun stands in an instrumental or other oblique relation, as be-night ‘to overtake with night,’ be-guile, be-witch. Of these a special section consists of verbs having a privative force, as Old English belandian, behéafdian, to deprive of one's land, one's head: cf. bereave v., and Old English benim-an to take away. Finally, be- is prefixed with a force combining some of the preceding, to participial adjectives, as in be-jewelled, be-daughtered.Be- being still in some of its senses (esp. 2, 6, 7 below) a living element, capable of being prefixed wherever the sense requires it, the derivatives into which it enters are practically unlimited in number. The more important, including those that are in any way specialized, or that require separate explanation, are treated in their alphabetical places as Main Words. (In the case of Middle English words in bi-, by-, all that survived long enough to have be- prefix appear under this spelling; a few that became obsolete at an early date are left under their only extant form in bi- prefix, by- comb. form.) Those of less importance, infrequent (often single) occurrence, and obvious composition, are arranged under the following groups (in which, however, the senses tend to overlap each other, so as to make the place of some of the words ambiguous):—