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”).

Pronunciation

Noun

beccus m (genitive beccī); second declension

  1. beak, bill (especially of a cock)
    Synonym: (more common) rōstrum

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
  • Franco-Provençal: bèc
  • Old French: bec
    • French: bec
    • Walloon: betch
    • → Dutch: bek
    • → English: beak
  • → Esperanto: beko
  • Friulian: bec
  • Italian: becco
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: bico
  • Old Occitan: bec
  • 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.
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