eldertongue

Old English · noun

ben

Normalised bēn

Part of speech
noun, feminine
Declension
strong i-stem
IPA
/beːn/
Syllables
beːn (1 syllable)
Modern English
prayerbenbeneprayingboonbeeentreatyrequest

ben1 · noun · feminine

Senses

  1. prayer, praying

  2. request, entreaty

  3. boon

    Bide nu æt gode þæt ic grecisc cunne. Þa cwæþ se biscop him to, þu bæde ofer mine mæðe ac uton swa þeah biddan þas bena æt gode.

    Pray now to God that I may know Greek. Then said the Bishop to him, 'Thou hast asked beyond my power, but let us, nevertheless, ask this boon of God.'

    late 10th century, Ælfric, "Saint Basilius, Bishop"

Declension · strong i-stem

Declension of ben
SingularPlural
Nominative bēnbēnebēna
Accusative bēnbēnebēnebēna
Genitive bēnebēna
Dative bēnebēnum

ben2 · noun · feminine · alternative form

Senses

  1. alternative form of benn

All forms (4)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *bōjana Proto-Indo-European *-nis Proto-Germanic *-niz Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-nis Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-ni-s Proto-Germanic *bōniz Proto-West Germanic *bōni Old English ben From Proto-West Germanic *bōni. Cognate with Old Norse bón.

From Proto-Germanic *banjō. Cognate with Old Norse ben.

Descendants

bee, ben, bene

Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ben · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution